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THE  I*     JAN    9   1911 

ANCIENT  HEBEEWl? 


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AN  INTRODUCTORY  ESSAY 


CO.VCERNINO 


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ABRAHAM  MILLS,  A.  M., 

AUTHOR  OF  "THE  POETS  AND  THK  POEVUY  OF  THE  ANCIEM" 

©RIEKS;"  "THE  LITERATURE  AND  THE  LITERARY  MEN  O? 

OREAT  BRITAIN  AND  IKELAND,"  ETC.,  ETC.,  ETC. 


A.  S.  BARNES  AISTD   COMPAlSrY, 
NEW  YORK  AND  CHICAGO. 


PUBLISHERS'  NOTICE. 


TjlOR  several  years  the  plates  of  tMs  work  were  supposed  to 
have  been  destroyed.  But  through  the  effective  energy 
of  the  author's  widow  they  have  been  found  and  prepared  with 
some  important  additions  for  renewed  circulation.  It  is  not 
claimed  that  for  general  interest  it  will  stand  beside  Dean 
Stanley's  "  Jewish  Church,"  but  that  for  compendiousness,  for 
simple,  earnest,  truthful  exposition,  for  candor  to  both  Jew  and 
Gentile,  for  convenience  in  handling  and  carriage,  for  useful- 
ness to  the  Bible  student  setting  out  in  his  search  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, for  study  in  day  and  Sunday  schools  of  the  early  sacred 
history  of  the  world,  for  beauty  of  typography  and  manufacture, 
it  is  not  excelled.  It  is  particularly  valuable  by  reason  of  the 
ten  new  Charts  giving  in  outline  the  Chronology  of  Hebrew 
history,  forming  an  indispensable  means  of  review,  prepared 
by  Professor  J.  T.  Benedict,  of  New  York,  for  class  use.  There 
are  also  in  this  new  edition  a  Map  of  Palestine  in  the  time  of 
Christ,  and  a  full-page  Cut  showing  the  sectional  plan  of  the 
Temple. 
1875. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1856,  by 

ABRAHAM    MILLS; 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States,  in  and 

for  the  Southern  District  of  New  York. 


PREFACE. 


The  history  of  every  thing  that  pertains  to  the 
Ancients,  is  fraught  with  the  deepest  interest  to 
all  intelligent  minds.  The  lessons  of  instruction 
which  it  imparts,  assuming,  as  they,  in  no  incon- 
siderable degree,  do,  the  attributes  of  experience, 
are,  perhaps,  more  durable  than  any  others  that 
we  receive.  Imagination  carries  us  back  to  the 
period  at  which  the  events  that  we  are  contem- 
plating occurred  ;  and  as  the  mind  becomes,  by 
the  influence  of  ideal  presence,  identified  with 
them,  the  scenes  with  which  they  are  connected 
pass,  in  apparent  reality,  before  our  view.  If 
this  be  true  in  regard  to  the  history  of  the 
Grecians,  the  Romans,  and  other  profane  nations 
of  antiquity,  how  peculiarly  true  must  it  be  in  re- 
gard to  the  Ancient  Hebrews.  Here  no  dark- 
ness or  uncertainty  veils  the  mind  respecting  the 
truth  of  what  is  recorded  ;  but  every  thing  stands 
out  in  bold  relief ;  characters  are  exhibited  as  they 
were  :  transactions  are  recorded  as  they  occurred  : 
vice  is  uniformly  detected  and  punished  ;  and  vir- 
tue, recognized  and  rewarded.  Jehovah  himself 
is  the  judge  ;  and  of  the  justness  of  His  decisions, 
no  question  can  properly  arise. 

In  composing  the  present- work,  the  author  has 


Xy  PREFACE. 

had  these  thoughts  constantly  in  his  mind ;  and  he 
has,  therefore,  aimed,  after  drawing  a  general 
sketch  of  the  history  of  the  world  from  the  crea- 
tion to  the  call  of  Abraham,  to  give  a  simple  and 
unambitious  narrative  of  all  that  transpired  in  con- 
nection with  the  history  of  the  Hebrews,  from  the 
latter  event,  to  the  final  destruction  of  Jerusalem 
by  the  Romans.  To  do  this  the  more  successfully, 
he  has  availed  himself  of  all  the  aid  that  he  could 
derive  from  former  writers  on  the  same  subject ; 
but  his  principal  guide,  as  far  as  its  narrative  ex- 
tends, has  been  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures 
themselves.  That  narrative  closes,  however,  near- 
ly five  hundred  years  before  the  final  downfall  of 
the  Hebrew  nation  ;  but,  fortunately,  we  are  favor- 
ed with  the  continuation  of  their  history,  in  the 
authentic,  though  uninspired,  narratives  of  Josephus 
of  Jerusalem,  and  Philo  of  Alexandria.  The  author 
has  endeavored,  throughout  the  whole  work,  to 
blend  the  most  solemn  and  impressive  lessons  of 
instruction,  with  the  pleasures  and  advantages  of 
historical  information ;  and  if  this  end  shall  be 
found  to  have  been  attained,  the  object  had  in 
view  will  be  realized.  To  the  public,  and  espe- 
cially to  the  religious  public,  he  here  presents  the 
result  of  his  labors — conscious  that  the  success  of 
the  work  must  entirely  depend  upon  its  intrinsic 
merits. 
New  York, 


COiNTENTS. 


INTRODUCTION. 

The  World  before  the  Flood 9 

CHAPTER   THE   FIRST. 
THE   PATRIARCHS. 

Section  I. — Abuaham 19 

Section  II. — Isaac 24 

Section  III. — Jacob 30 

Section  IV.— Joseph 41 

CHAPTER   THE    SECOND. 
THE  LEGISLATOR, 

Section  I.— Moses  :  From  his  birtli,  to  the  Passage  of  the 

Red  Sea 50 

Section  II. —Moses  :  From  the  Passage  of  the  Red  Sea,  to 

Mount  Sinai 57 

Section  III. — Mose<s  :  From  the  arrival  at  Mount  Sinai,  to 

the  building  of  the  Tabernacle 62 

Section  IV.— Moses  r   From   the  d^-parture  from  Mount 

Sinai,  to  the  conspiracy  of  Korah,  Dathan,  and  Abi- 

ram 71 

Section  V. — Mosks  :  From  the  conspiracy,  to  the  death  of 

Moses 81 

CHAPTER   THE    THIRD 
THE  JUDGES. 

Section  T. — Joshua  :  From  the  crossing  of  ihe  Jordan,  to 

his  Death 93 

Section  II. — From  the  death  of  Joshua,  to  the  Restoration 

of  the  Tribe  of  Benjamin 107 


VI  CONTENTS. 

PAOB 

SECTiON'  III. — The  e.stablislimont  of  the  Theocracy — Othniel — • 

Ehud— Sbamgar— Deborah 116 

Section'  IV, — Gideon— Abirnelech — Tola — Jair 127 

Section'  V.— Jephtiiau — Ibzao — Elon — Abdon — Sampson.  138 
Section  VI. — Eli — Samuel 152 

CHAPTER    THE    FOUETH. 
THE  KINGS. 

Section  L— Saul  :  The  success  of  the  commeQceineut  of 

his  ReigQ 155 

Skction  II.— Saul  :  His  Jealousy,  Envy,  and  Hatred  of 
David 176 

Section  III. — Saul  :  The  unhappy  close  of  his  Reign 191 

Section  IV. — David  :  The  Glory  of  the  early  part  of  his 

ReigQ 205 

Section  V. — David  :  His  Fall,  and  its  consequeuces 217 

Section  VI. — Daa-id  :  His  Penitence,  Restoration,  Death, 
and  Character 235 

Section  VII. — Solomon  :  His  Wisdom,  Power,  and  Wealth 

—The  building  of  the  Temple 248 

Section  Vlll. — Solomon  :  The  Dedication  of  the  Tem- 
ple— His  Apostacy  —  The  unhappy  close  of  his 
Reign 263 

CHAPTER   TtlE    FIFTH. 
KINGS  OF  ISRAEL . 

Section  I. —  Jeroboam— Nadab — Baasha — Elab— Omri  — 

Ahab 279 

Section  II.  —  Ahaziau  —  Jehorani — Jehu — Joash — Jero- 
boam the  Second — Zechariah — Shallum — Menahein — 
Pekahiah— Pekah— Hoshea 289 

CHAPTER   THE   SIXTH. 
KINGS  OF  JUDAH. 

Section  I. — Reiioboam — Abijah— Asa — Jeuoshaphat 297 

Section  II. — Jetioram — Abajiah — Jehoash — Amaziah. . . .  307 

Section  III.— -UzziAn— Jothnm— Ahaz— Hezekiah 316 

Section  IV. —  Manasseh — Amon — Josiah — Jeoabaz— Je- 

boiukim — Jehuiakin 329 


CONTENTS.  Vii 

PAQ8 

CHAPTER    THE    SEVENTH. 
CAPTIVITY  AND  RESTORATION. 

Section  I. — The  Captivity 341 

Section    II. — The  Restoration,   and  Administration   of 

Zerubbabel  and  Nehemiah 352 

Section  III. — Judaea,  a  Syrian  Province  —  Its  general 

state  prosperous 364 

CHAPTER   THE   EIGHTH. 
THE  ASAMONEANS. 

Section  I. — Mattathias  undertakes  to  relieve  Judaea  from 
Syrian  Oppression  —  His  example   followed  by  his 

Sons  Judas,  Jonathan,  and  Simon 377 

Section  II. — Judjea  free  :  but  the  contest  which  follows 
between  the  different  Asamonean  leaders,  ends  in  ele- 
vating Herod,  son  of  Anti pater,  to  the  Throne 390 

CHAPTER   THE    NINTH. 
DYNASTY  OF  HEROD. 

Section  I.  —  Herod    the    Gkk.vt. — His    Character    and 

Government — The  Birth  ot  Jesus  Christ 407 

Section  II. — Herod  Philip — llerod  Agrippa— Arcbelaus 

— The  Crucifixion  of  Jesus  CnursT 419 

Section  III. — Jud^a  a  Roman  Province.  Felix,  Fcstus, 
Albinus,  and  Florus  Governors.  Destruction  of  Jeru- 
salem by  Titus — Dispersion  of  the  Jewish  Nation. . .  427 

CHARTS. 

A.— The  Periods  op  Hebrew  History 8 

I.— The  Antediluvian  Period 10 

Creation,  to  Delurje. 

II.— The  Dispersion  Period ^ 

Deluge  to  The  Call. 

Ill,— The  Patriarchal  Period 48 

The  Call  to  The  Exodus. 

IV.— Theocratic  Period 163 

The  E'roclus  to  Monarchy. 

v.— Monarchical  Period 340 

United  Khi^/ (lorn— Divided  Kingdom. 

VI.— Babylonian  Period 352 

Hebrews  in  Babylon— Return. 

VII.— Persian  Period 376 

Return,  from  Captivity  to  Battle  of  Arbela. 

Vin. — Grecian  Period 390 

Bi'  e  or  Arbela  to  Fj,:i  of  Cirthaje. 

IX.  —Roman  Period 407 

Fall  of  Carthage  to  Jerusalem  Taken. 


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rhe  Creation — The  Fall  of  Man — Its  Consequences — Cain  and  Abel— 
Their  Oflferings— The  Murder  of  Abel— The  Banishment  of  Cain— 
His  Settlement  at  Enoch — The  Origin  of  useful  Arts — The  birth  of 
Seth — The  death  of  Adam — The  Descendants  of  Seth — The  Descend 
ants  of  Cain — Their  Intermarriages — The  Consequences — The  Mis- 
sion of  Noah— The  Ark— The  Flood— The  Attempt  to  build  the  Tower 
of  Babel — The  Dispersion — The  final  Settlement  of  the  Descendants 
of  Japheth,  Shem,  and  Ham — The  Longevity  of  the  Antediluvians. 

In  contemplating  the  creation  of  the  world,  the  reflect- 
ing mind  is  overawed  by  the  vastness  of  the  work,  and  the 
facility  with  which  it  was  executed.  Four  thousand  years 
before  the  Christian  era,  the  materials  out  of  which  the 
earth  was  formed  were  floating  in  a  chaotic  state  in  the 
region  of  undefined  space  through  which  it  now  regularly 
rolls  its  annual  course. 

In  the  brief  period  of  six  days,  God  created  not  only  the 
globe  which  we  inhabit,  but  all  tilings,  both  animate  and 
inanimate,  that  exist  upon  its  surface,  or  live  within  its 
bosom.  Inanimate  objects  employed  Jehovah's  mighty 
power  during  the  first  four  days  of  creation,  and  the 
remaining  two  were  devoted  to  the  production  of  things 
that  have  life.  The  seventh  day  the  Creator  appropriated 
as  a  day  of  rest,  and  sanctified  it  as  a  Sabbath ;  and  that 
day,  according  to  the  authority  of  Philo,  was  thenceforth 
regularly  observed  by  all  the  nations  of  early  antiquity  as 
a  day  of  rest  and  recreation. 

Adam,  the  last  and  most  perfect  production  of  Almighty 
pov.er,  was  placed,  immediately  after  the  creation,  with  his 
1* 


10  INTKODUCTION. 

consort  Eve,  in  a  garden  that  God  had  prepared  for  their 
abode,  and  which  abounded  with  everything  beautiful  to 
the  eye  and  delicious  to  the  taste.  Eden  was  probably 
situated  in  x\rmenia,  on  the  river  Euphrates;  and  in 
tliat  beautiful  Paradise,  Adam  and  Eve  were  permitted  to 
roam  at  will,  and  to  partake  of  its  delicate  and  varied  pro- 
ductions— 

"With  one  restraint,  lords  of  the  world  beside." 

In  the  midst  of  Paradise  God  planted  two  trees,  dis- 
tinguished above  the  rest — the  Tree  of  Life,  and  the  Tree 
of  Knowledge  of  Good  and  Evil.  The  properties  of  the 
former  were  probably  to  sustain,  invigorate,  and  perpetuate 
human  existence  ;  but  what  the  properties  of  the  latter 
were,  is  not  so  certain.  Perhaps  it  was  called  the  tree  of 
knowledge  of  good  and  evil  to  indicate  to  Adam  and  Eve 
the  consequences  of  disobedience  should  they  transgress 
the  divine  command,  that  "  they  should  not  eat  thereof." 

The  bliss  of  Adam  and  Eve  in  the  garden  of  Eden  was 
as  evanescent  as  it  was  perfect.  Beguiled  by  the  subtlety 
of  the  serpent,  Eve,  notwithstanding  the  awful  threatening 
of  her  Maker  that,  "  in  the  day  thou  eatest  thereof  thou 
shalt  surely  die,"  partook  of  the  forbidden  fruit,  and  gave 
of  it  to  Adam,  that  he  might  eat,  and  thus  become  equally 
involved  with  her  in  the  guilt  of  transgression.  The  im- 
mediate consequences  of  this  deliberate  act  of  disobedience 
was  the  expulsion  of  our  first  parents  from  Paradise ;  but 
the  sin  which  it  involved 

"Brought  death  into  the  world,  and  all  our  woe.'' 

Though  the  sin  of  Adam  and  Eve  was  inconceivably  great, 
and  their  punishment  terribly  severe,  still  their  offended 
Creator  was  not  willing  to  leave  them  in  utter  despair; 
but,  looking  to  the  future  redemption  of  their  race,  cou' 
Boled  them  in  their  outcast  state  with  the  gracious  promise, 


INTRODUCTION. 


u 


that  "the  seed  of  the  woman  should  bruise  the  serpent's 
head." 

Soon  after  Adam  and  Eve  left  their  happy  abode  in 
Paradise,  Eve  gave  birth  to  her  first-born  son,  and  as  she 
supposed  him  to  be  "  the  seed  of  promise,"  she  called  his 
name  Cain,  which  signifies  acquisition.  Within  two  years 
from  the  birth  of  Cain,  Eve  brought  forth  her  second  son ; 
but  as  she  believed  that  she  had  already  received  the  ful- 
fillment of  the  promise,  she  held  him  in  so  light  estimation 
that  she  named  him  Abel,  or  vanity. 

In  their  youth,  Cain  and  Abel  began  to  exhibit  those 
different  traits  of  character  which,  in  their  manhood,  be- 
came fully  developed;  and  in  the  selection  of  their  future 
occupations  each  indulged  his  peculiar  disposition.  Cain 
became  a  tiller  of  the  ground,  and  Abel  a  keeper  of  sheep ; 
and  "in  the  end  of  days,"  which  was,  doubtless,  on  the 
return  of  the  Sabbath,  they  brought  their  respective  ofl^'er- 
ings  before  the  Lord.  Cain,  in  the  pride  of  his  heart, 
oftered  the  fruits  of  the  earth,  while  Abel,  in  meek  sim- 
plicity, presented  the  firstlings  of  his  flock.  The  rejection 
Of  the  offering  of  the  former,  and  the  acceptance  of  that 
of  the  latter,  so  enraged  Cain  that  "he  rose  up  against 
his  brother  and  slew  him ;"  and  afterwards  he  attempted 
to  conceal  the  fratricidal  act  by  burying  the  body  of  Abel 
in  the  earth.  God,  however,  immediately  summoned  the 
murderer  into  his  presence,  banished  him  from  his  father's 
family,  and  sentenced  him  to  become  "  a  fugitive  and  a 
vagabond  in  the  face  of  the  earth ;"  but  to  remove  his 
apprehension  of  immediate  death,  he  gave  to  the  fugitive 
a  sign  of  protection,  and  declared  that  "  whosoever  slayeth 
Cain,  vengeance  shall  be  taken  on  him  seven-fold." 

At  this  period,  the  world  was  one  hundred  and  thirty 
years  old;  and  though  the  Mosaic  account  confines  its 
narrative  to  that  branch  of  the  family  of  Adam  throunrb 


12 


INTRODUCTION 


^v}licll  the  Messiah  was  to  descend,  yet  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  the  region  of  country  round  the  original  Para- 
dise was  then  extensively  populated.  Cain,  therefore,  as 
soon  as  he  was  expelled  from  the  house  of  his  parents, 
collected  together  a  band  of  desperadoes  like  himself,  and 
removing  to  the  eastward  of  the  Euphrates,  finally  settled 
on  a  plain  northeast  of  the  Persian  Gulf,  in  about  latitude 
thirty  and  a  half  degrees  north,  and  there  built  a  city, 
which  he  called  Enoch,  after  his  eldest  son. 

Enoch  is  remarkable  for  being  the  first  city  mentioned 
in  sacred  or  profane  history ;  and,  so  far  as  we  can  now 
learn,  it  was  the  birth-place  of  the  arts  of  civilized  life. 
Here,  to  facilitate  their  trade  with  the  neighboring  settle- 
ments, weights  and  measures  were  invented,  and  by  the 
genius  of  Tubal-Cain  the  art  of  forging  and  polishing  iron 
was  discovered.  Here,  too,  originated,  as  the  invention 
of  Jubal,  the  science  of  music,  and  Naamah,  the. sister  of 
Jubal,  first  produced  woolen  fabrics  by  the  art  of  spinning 
and  weaving.  But  these  vast  additions  to  the  ordinary 
comforts  of  life  in  no  degree  improved  the  moral  character 
of  Cain ;  for  he  died  as  he  had  lived,  in  hostility  to  his 
Maker,  and  at  his  death  bequeathed,  as  an  inheritance,  the 
fruits  of  his  wickedness  to  his  posterity. 

The  death  of  Abel,  and  the  banishment  of  Cain,  plunged 
Adam  and  Eve  into  the  deepest  grief;  for  they  very  natu- 
rally supposed  that  their  Maker's  promise  to  them  had 
failed.  But  to  allay  their  fears,  God  bestowed  upon  them 
another  son,  whom  they  named  Seth,  or  substitute.  After 
the  birth  of  Seth  nothing  farther  is  related  of  Adam  than 
that  he  lived  eight  hundred  years — in  all  nine  hundred 
and  thirty — and  at  his  death  was  buried,  according  to  an 
Arabian  tradition,  in  the  Cave  of  Machpelah — the  same 
that  the  patriarch  Abraham  afterwards  purchased  as  a 
burial-place  for  his  family. 


INTRODUCTION. 


]3 


The  descendants  of  Setli  continued,  for  many  years,  to 
dwell  upon  the  plains  of  Mesopotamia^  and  were  so 
eminently  distinguished  for  their  piety  and  virtue  that 
they  were  called  the  "  Sons  of  God."  The  descendants 
of  Cain  remained  in  the  vicinity  of  Enoch,  and  were  as 
noted  for  their  vice  and  profligacy  as  the  Sethites  were  for 
their  piety  and  virtue :  to  distinguish  them,  therefore,  from 
the  former,  they  were  called  the  "  Sons  of  Men."  The 
Sethites  were  by  occupation  shepherds  and  husbandmen, 
and  for  the  greater  convenience  of  cultivating  the  vine, 
they  took  possession  of  a  range  of  mountains  beyond  the 
Mesopotamian  plains.  This  brought  them  into  immediate 
contact  with  the  Cainites ;  and  notwithstanding  God  had 
strictly  prohibited  all  intercourse  between  the  two  families, 
yet  the  beauty  and  accomplishments  of  the  daughters  of 
Cain  so  completely  captivated  the  sons  of  Seth,  that  they 
disregarded  the  Divine  will,  and  formed  numerous  marriage 
alliances  with  them. 

The  link  between  the  Sethites  and  their  Creator  being, 
by  this  act  of  disobedience,  severed,  all  restraint  was  at 
once  removed ;  and  in  the  course  of  a  few  generations 
mankind  became  so  universally  corrupted,  that,  in  th(. 
emphatic  language  of  Scripture,  their  wickedness  "  filled 
the  earth."  This  dark  picture  was,  however,  occasionally 
relieved  by  the  appearance  of  such  characters  as  Mahala- 
leel,  Jared,  Enoch,  Methuselah,  Lamech,  and  Noah ;  but 
their  virtuous  example  not  being  suflScient  to  restrain  the 
vicious  conduct  of  the  great  mass  of  the  race,  God  at 
length  "  repented  1?hat  he  had  made  man,"  and  finally 
resolved,  should  he  still,  after  being  suitably  warned  of 
his  danger,  persist  in  his  wickednesses,  that  he  would 
bring  upon  the  earth  a  universal  deluge,  and  thus  destroy 
the  whole  human  race. 

An  etFort  on  the  part  of  Noah  to  reclaim  man  from  h'm 


14  INTRODUCTION. 

sinful  ways  immediately  followed ;  but,  though  he  preached 
righteousness  to  his  fellow-men,  and,  for  one  hundred  and 
twenty  years,  urged  upon  them  the  necessity  of  forsaking 
their  sins  and  working  righteousness,  still  they  persisted  in 
their  wayward  course,  until  at  length  the  patience  of  Je- 
hovah became  exhausted ;  and  he  then  directed  Noah  to 
build  an  ark  of  gopher  or  cypress  wood,  and  to  enter  it  with 
all  his  family,  together  with  such  beasts  of  the  field,  fowls  of 
the  air,  and  fishes  of  the  sea,  as  might  be  deemed  necessary 
to  replenish  the  earth  after  the  flood  should  have  passed 
away.  The  ark  was  five  hundred  and  fifty  feet  in  length, 
ninety-five  in  breadth,  and  fifty-five  in  height ;  and  it  was 
therefore  abundantly  capacious  for  the  purposes  for  which 
it  was  designed. 

Noah,  according  to  Josephus,  accompanied  by  his  sons, 
Japheth,  Shem,  and  Ham,  and  their  wives,  entered  the  ark 
towards  the  end  of  September,  one  thousand  six  hundred 
and  fifty-six  years  after  the  creation ;  and  as  his  grand- 
father, Methuselah,  had  died  in  the  beginning  of  the  same 
month,  and  his  father  five  or  six  years  earlier,  none  of  his 
immediate  connections,  so  far  as  we  know,  were  left  behind 
him  to  perish  in  the  flood.  The  rain  began  to  descend 
upon  the  earth  early  in  October,  and  for  forty  successive 
days  the  heavens  were  shrouded  in  blackness,  and  it 
appeared  as  though  the  fountains  of  the  great  deep  were 
broken  up.  During  the  months  of  December,  January 
and  a  part  of  February,  the  flood  remained  comparatively 
stationary ;  but  in  the  early  part  of  March  the  waters 
began  to  subside,  and  continued  to  retreat  into  the  cav- 
erns of  the  ocean  until  towards  the  close  of  April,  when 
the  ark  rested  upon  an  Ararat,  or  mountain  peak,  probably 
amongst  the  Himalahs,  between  Hindostan  and  Thibet,  in 
Central  Asia.  From  that  time  the  water  continued  to 
subside  until  the  beginning  of  the  following  September, 


INTRODUCTION.  ^^ 

when  the  dry  land  appeared ;  but  Noah  and  his  family  did 
not  leave  the  ark  until  the  first  of  October,  having  then 
been  confined  within  its  walls  a  few  days  over  a  year. 

Immediately  after  Noah  left  the  ark  he  erected  an  altar, 
and  upon  it  offered  a  solemn  sacrifice  of  thanksgiving  to 
the  Almighty  for  his  wonderful  preservation  during  the 
deluge.  With  this  expression  of  grateful  piety  on  the 
part  of  his  servant,  God  was  so  well  pleased  that  he 
entered  into  a  covenant  with  him,  in  which  he  pledged  his 
own  veracity  that  the  world  should  not  again  be  drowned 
by  a  flood ;  and  as  a  perpetual  memento  of  the  covenant 
thus  made,  he  referred  him  to  "  the  bow  in  the  clouds," 
the  cause  of  which  was  well  understood  by  Noah,  and  the 
continuance  of  which  he  knew  must  necessarily  be  coeval 
with  the  existence  of  the  earth  itself.  God,  at  the  same 
time,  extended  man's  means  of  subsistence — 'which  had 
hitherto  been  confined  to  the  fruits  of  the  earth — to  the 
beasts  of  the  field,  the  fowls  of  the  air,  and  the  fishes  of 
the  sea,  and  allowed  him  to  appropriate  them  to  his  own 
necessary  purposes. 

Noah  had  followed,  previous  to  the  deluge,  the  occupa- 
tion of  a  husbandman ;  and  as  the  cultivation  of  the  vine 
was  one  of  the  first  objects  to  which  he  now  turned  his 
attention,  he  selected  an  appropriate  spot  adjacent  to  his 
new  abode,  and  there  planted  a  vineyard.  When  the  fruit 
of  the  vine  had  arrived  at  maturity,  he  partook  too  freely 
of  its  juice,  and  thus  became  inebriated.  While  in  this 
condition,  and  reposing  in  his  tent,  his  son  Ham  passed 
by;  and,  observing  his  father's  intoxicated  state,  he  first 
derided  him,  and  then  hastened  to  communicate  the  intel- 
ligence of  what  he  had  witnessed  to  Japheth  and  Shem. 
When  Noah  came  to  himself,  and  beard  of  the  unnatural 
conduct  of  his  son  Ham,  he,  under  divine  inspiration,  pro- 
nounced that  awful  prophetic  prediction  concerning  him, 


16  INTRODUCTION. 

which  so  plainly  indicated  the  state  of  servitude  to  which 
his  descendants  should  be  reduced,  and  which  was  first 
fulfilled  in  the  person  of  his  grandson  Canaan — "  Cursed 
be  Canaan ;  a  servant  of  servants  shall  he  be  to  his  breth- 
ren." After  the  flood  Noah  lived  three  hundred  and  fifty 
years,  and  died  1908  A.  C,  just  two  years  before  the  birth 
of  the  patriarch  Abraham. 

Many  years  before  the  death  of  Noah,  a  branch  of  his 
family,  conducted  by  Japheth,  Shem,  and  Ham,  left  the 
vicinity  of  their  father's  abode,  and  journeyed  westward 
till  they  reached  the  plains  of  Shinaar,  on  the  banks  of  the 
river  Euphrates.  Here,  attracted  by  the  beauty  of  the 
country,  they  resolved  to  fix  their  permanent  abode.  With 
this  view,  they  projected  a  city,  in  the  midst  of  which  they 
determined  to  build  a  tower,  the  height  of  which  "  should 
reach  the  heavens."  The  motives  that  prompted  the 
building  of  this  tower,  whatever  they  may  have  been, 
were  highly  displeasing  to  the  Almighty ;  he  therefore, 
before  they  had  completed  their  work,  "  confounded  their 
language,"  and  thus  frustrated  their  design. 

The  Dispersion,  which  immediately  followed  the  "  con- 
fusion of  tongues,"  occurred  one  hundred  and  one  years 
after  the  flood ;  and  by  this  event,  those  of  Noah's  de- 
scendants who  had  attempted  to  establish  themselves  in 
Shinaar  were  divided  into  seventy  different  tribes,  and  usad 
as  many  different  dialects.  They,  accordingly,  sought  new 
and  distant  settlements,  and  the  leader  of  each  tribe  usu- 
ally bestowed  his  own  name  upon  the  tract  of  country  on 
which  he  settled — thus  becoming  the  founder  of  a  nation. 
In  accordance  with  this  arrangement,  the  descendants  of 
Japheth  established  themselves  in  Asia  Minor  and  Eastern 
Europe;  those  of  Shem,  in  the  country  eastward  of  the 
Euphrates,  embracing  a  range  of  provinces  on  both  banks 
of  that  river ;  while  the  descendants  of  Ham  took  posses« 


CREATION  OF  MAN. 

4004  1 

> 

I  (0) 

!    5-2, 

0 

THE  FALL  OF  MAN. 
BIRTH  OF  CAIN. 
BIRTH   OF  ABEL. 

B.C. 

'4 

A.M. 

The  numl 
the  birth 
te  B.C.  Of 

0  ri 

-S3 

P  0 

■              n     cr 

SETH   BORN. 

3874 

3& 

130 

ers  (130), 
if  a  patria 
the  same 

3^ 

ENOS  BORN. 

3769 

0 

23s 

(105),  &c., 
rch,  add  t 
event,  sub 

»— ^ 

0 

0 

a 

I'A 

1 

CAINAN  BORN. 

3679 

S  % 

> 

> 

>  ^ 

p 

325 

ote  the  ages  of  th 
lumbers  that  precc 
t  the  sum  of  the  s 

THE   AN 

MAHALALEEL  born. 

MYTHIC  AGE  IX 
GREECE. 

3609 

a: 

395 

e  patriarc 
;de  the  n: 
;ame  num 

0 

(4004-2348.) 

> 

1     ^3    S- 

JARED  BORN. 

3544 

p 

p 

460 

at  the  birt 
e.      Examp 
rs  from  400 

2 

ENOCH  BORN. 

3382 

!  622 

p   3   ft. 

K 

ir  so 

OS  w 

mplc 

^ 

g 

p 

•i  %  s 

w 

METHUSELEH  born. 

3317 

s: 

687 

(Gen.  V 
born  23; 
-Enos  w 

0 

P  '-" 

0 

0 

a 

|a& 

LAMECH  BORN. 

DEATH  OF  ADAM 

(3074). 

NOAH   BORN. 

3^30 
2948 

0  ^ 

si 

5 

874 
1056 

To  find  the  dat 
=  130  +  105.      To 
I  3769  B.C.  =  4004 

i 

0 

00  "  s 

SHEM  BORN  (2448). 

"Z 

1    ?." 

w  C  w 

THE  DELUGE, 

2348 
B.C. 

0  -5^ 

1656 

A.M. 

:a.m.) 

Qd  the 
■235- 

p  0 

•• 

INTRODUCTION.  17 

sion  of  Palestine,  the  northern  part  of  Arabia,  and  eventu- 
ally of  the  whole  of  the  continent  of  Africa. 

During  the  patriarchal  age,  which  we  have  thus  briefly 
considered,  the  lives  of  men  were  extended  to  so  great  a 
length  that  all  the  generations  from  Adam  to  Lamech,  the 
father  of  Noah,  were  contemporaneous.  After  the  flood, 
however,  their  lives  began  gradually  to  diminish,  though 
Noah's  sons  lived  to  so  great  an  age  as  to  be  contempo- 
rary with  Abraham,  the  founder  of  the  Israelitish  nation. 
By  tradition,  therefore,  all  the  information  which  Moses 
has  given  us  respecting  the  antediluvian  world  might  havfl 
descended  to  Abraham  without  interruption. 


CHAPTER    THE    FIRST. 
THE   PATRIARCHS. 

SECTION   I. 

Abraham  :  Ancestry  and  Birth — Removal  to  Canann — Driven  into 
Egypt  by  Famine — Return  and  8'ettlement  in  Canaan — Separation 
from  Lot — Lot  taken  Captive — Rescued  by  Abraham — Abraham 
cono^ratulated  and  blessed  by  Melchizedek — Birth  of  Ishmael — Birth 
of  Isaac — Abraham  commanded  to  offer  up  Isaac  in  Sacrifice — 
Interposition  of  the  Almighty — Banishment  of  Hagar  and  Ishmael— 
Isaac's  Marriage — Death  and  Burial  of  Sai*ah— Abraham  marriea 
Keturah — His  Death  and  Burial. 

With  the  patriarch  Abraham,  to  whose  history  we  have 
now  come  down,  originated  the  Hebrew,  nation.  Abraham 
was  of  the  Hne  of  Shem,  and  was  born  in  Mesopotamia 
1996  A.  C.  Of  his  immediate  ancestry  very  little  is 
known  ;  but  as  he  was  the  appointed  medium  through 
which  Messiah  was  to  descend,  a  genealogy  of  his  more 
immediate  progenitors  is  given.  According  to  this  gene- 
alogy, Arphaxad,  the  son  of  Shem,  was  born  two  years 
after  the  deluge ;  and  when  he  was  thirty-five  years  old, 
the  birth  of  his  son  Salah  occurred.  Eber,  or  Ileher,  from 
whom  the  name  Hebrew  is  derived — the  son  of  Salah — was 
born  when  his  father  was  thirty  years  of  age ;  and  in  his 
thirty-fourth  year  he  had  a  son  whom  he  called  Peleg. 
In  the  thirtieth  year  of  Peleg  s  age,  the  birth  of  his  son 
Reu  took  place ;  and  in  the  thirty-second  year  of  Reu's 
age,  his  son  Serug  was  born.  Thirty  years  after,  the  birth 
of  Nahor,  the  son  of  Serug,  occurred ;  and  Nahor,  in  his 
twenty-ninth  year,  became  the  father  of  Terah,  who,  when 
seventy  years  of  age,  had  three  sons,  Haran,  Nahor,  and 
Abraham. 


20  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

Thus  it  appears  that,  from  the  deluge  to  the  birth  of 
Abraham,  a  period  of  three  hundred  and  fifty-two  years 
elapsed;  and  during  the  whole  of  that  time  the  length  of 
men's  lives  gradually  diminished,  from  about  four  hundred 
and  fifty,  to  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  years. 

Abraham's  father  resided  east  of  the  river  Euphrates, 
and  as  his  kinsmen  and  neighbors  were  all  idolaters,  God 
resolved  to  remove  him  from  his  native  country  into  a 
land  which  sJiould  become  the  inheritance  of  his  pos- 
terity. Abraham  was  now  seventy-five  years  old,  and 
had  been,  for  some  time,  married  to  Sarah,  the  daughter 
of  his  brother  Haran,  and  sister  of  his  nephew  Lot.  Soon 
after,  accompanied  by  his  wife,  his  father  Terah,  and  Lot, 
he  commenced  his  journey  towards  the  land  of  Canaan, 
but  did  not  immediately  proceed  farther  than  Haran,  or 
Charran,  on  the  border  of  Chaldea.  At  Charran  Abra- 
ham remained  until  the  death  of  his  father;  and  being 
thus  relieved  of  this  aged  and  infirm  attendant,  he,  with 
Sarah  and  Lot,  resumed  his  journey  towards  Canaan. 
Having  at  length  reached  the  promised  land,  and  received 
the  divine  assurance  that  it  should  eventually  become  the 
possession  of  his  descendants,  he  continued  to  abide  there 
for  a  few  years,  though  without  any  fixed  habitation,  until, 
at  length,  he  and  his  companions  were  driven  by  famine 
down  into  the  land  of  Egypt. 

The  famine  having  soon  after  ceased,  Abraham  returned 
into  Canaan,  and  pitched  his  tent  in  the  plain  of  Mamre, 
near  the  ancient  city  of  Hebron.  Meantime  the  flocks  and 
herds  of  both  Abraham  and  Lot  had  so  greatly  increased 
that  it  became  necessary  for  them  to  separate.  Abraham, 
with  his  family,  remained  in  the  plain  of  Mamre,  while 
Lot  removed  to  the  plains  of  Jordan,  in  the  immediate 
vicinity  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah.  Lot  had  not  resided 
long  in  the  plains  of  Jordan  before  his  adopted  country 


THE  DELUGJE. 

2348 

r- 

1 
1656 

^i 

0 

LEGENDARY  AGE 

B.C. 

0 

> 

A.M. 

""S3 

IN  GREECE 
(igai-iioo). 

X          1 

(2) 

SHEM. 

HAM. 

JAPHE 

«s^ 

m 

+  3  S 

H                      ) 

+      r-    uJ 

ARPHAXAD  BORN. 

2346 

*T3 

1658 

00    ^i^ 

51! 

X 

w   Q   g 

> 

"   t/j   0 

1— H 

p 

0  -  ? 

)— H 

SALAH  BORN. 

2311 

C/5 

>   ^ 

1693 

•a 

H 

THE  OLD  EMPIRE 

||s 

ffi 

OF  EGYPT. 

t;^ 

W 

1 

!              EBER  BORN. 

2281 

>3 

1723 

2 

■s„ 

51 

CO 

1   THE  DISPERSION. 

2247 

I7S7 

0    M 

•-d 

1     NiMROD  FOUNDS  BaBYLON. 

s'^ 

°^& 

w 

ASSHUR  FOUNDS  NiNEVEH. 

p 

^ 

pd 

W     O* 

cy5 

2217 

R  ^ 

1787 

§■5 

H-H 

FoHi  IN  China. 

c!  ^ 

P      g- 

0 

I                 ^ 

^ 

Menes  founds  Memphis. 

2185 

JO  ^ 

1819 

c^ 

^    -^ 

•nd 

Thebes  founded. 

9 

B  § 
re   0 

W 

'Z 

;::d 

NAHOR  BORN. 

1 

21SS 

0  ^ 

1849 

0 

!          Shepherd  Kings. 

W  0 

> 

TERAH  BORN. 

2126 

tt 

1878 

Pyramids  in  Egypt. 

pS 

B  ? 

Inachus  at  Argos. 
DEATH  of  NOAH. 

h> 

U 

7   ^ 

BIRTH  OF  ABRAHAM. 

1996 

2008 

b 

M     0 

s« 

^g- 

JOB. 

'4 

:rg 

THE  CATl.  OF  ABRAHAM. 

1921 

> 
y 

2083 

«  2, 
0  § 

•"r 

B.C. 

^ 

A.M. 

B>^ 

TUE     PATRI  ARC  H  S.  21 

became  involved  in  war  with  some  of  the  neighboring 
nations,  and  in  the  course  of  the  contest  he  w^as  taken 
prisoner.  As  soon  as  Abraham  heard  of  the  capture  of 
his  nephew  he  armed  his  dependants,  pursued  and  over- 
took the  victors,  and  after  a  severe  conflict  overcame  the 
enemy,  and  recovered,  not  only  the  prisoners,  but  the 
spoils  also,  which  they  had  carried  away  with  them. 

It  was  on  this  occasion  that  Abraham  was  congratulated 
by  Melchizedek,  a  distinguished,  pious  Canaanite,  who  was 
not  only  king  of  Salem,  but  priest  of  "the  Most  High 
God,"  and  one  of  the  most  remarkable  of  the  numerous 
types  of  our  Saviour.  To  him,  as  a  priest,  Abraham 
offered  the  tenth  part  of  the- spoils  of  his  recent  victory. 

Abraham  had  now  reached  the  eighty-fifth  year  of  his 
age ;  and  though  he  had  no  doubt  that  God  would  fulfil 
his  promise,  and  give  to  his  posterity  the  land  of  Canaan, 
yet  at  this  advanced  age  he  was  still  childless.  At  the 
suggestion  of  Sarah,  therefore,  he  took  Hagar,  her  hand- 
maid, as  a  secondary  wife — a  practice  very  common  at  that 
early  period — by  whom  he  had  his  first-born  son,  Ishmael. 
As  Abraham  now  supposed  that  God's  promise  of  a  numer- 
ous offspring  was  to  be  fulfilled  in  this  son,  he  naturally 
felt  for  him  the  strongest  attachment  and  the  tenderest 
concern ;  and  under  this  mistaken  idea  the  patriarch 
passed  the  succeeding  thirteen  years. 

At  length,  however,  when  Abraham  had  attained  the 
ninety-ninth  year  of  his  age,  God  appeared  to  him  in  a 
more  solemn  and  impressive  manner  than  ever  before,  and, 
under  the  name  of  God  Almighty,  entered  anew  into  cove- 
nant with  him,  commanding  him  "  to  walk  before  him,  and 
be  perfect."  As  a  sign  of  the  certain  fulfilment  of  the 
promise  already  so  often  repeated,  God,  at  this  time, 
changed  the  patriarch's  name  from  Abram,  or  high  father, 
to  that  of  Abraham,  or  father  of  multitudes.     Sarah's  name 


22  THE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

was  also  changed  from  Sarai,  or  my  princess,  to  Sarah,  or 
princess  of  multitudes.  We  may  here  observe,  that  Abra- 
ham now  sustained  the  threefold  character  of  patriarch, 
priest,  and  prince. 

Abraham  still  resided  at  Mamre,  and  about  a  year  after 
the  remarkable  occurrence  just  related,  Sarah,  now  in  the 
ninetieth  year  of  her  age,  gave  birth  to  Isaac,  the  long- 
expected  son  of  promise.  When  the  time  arrived  for  the 
child  to  be  weaned  and  separated  from  the  immediate  care 
of  its  mother,  Abraham  celebrated  the  event  by  a  sumptU' 
ous  feast ;  and  in  the  midst  of  their  rejoicings  Sarah  saw 
Ishmael,  through  envioasness,  as  she  supposed,  mocking 
at  his  supplanter.  This  conduct  so  incensed  her,  that  she 
insisted  on  the  immediate  removal  of  Ishmael  and  his 
mother  from  the  family.  The  determination  of  Sarah 
gave  Abraham,  who  tenderly  loved  Ishmae],  great  con- 
cern ;  but  God  directed  him  to  comply  with  her  request, 
and  graciously  assured  him,  that,  though  the  covenant- 
blessing  belonged  to  Isaac,  still  Ishmael  also  should  be- 
come great  and  powerful.  Ishmael  was,  at  this  time,  in 
the  seventeenth  year  of  his  age,  and  after  he  left  his 
father's  home  he  settled  in  Arabia,  and  there  became  the 
father  of  twelve  princes,  and  the  head  of  a  great  nation. 
The  prediction  that  "  his  hand  should  be  against  every  man, 
and  every  man's  hand  against  him,"  has  been  literally  fulfill- 
ed in  the  character  of  the  Bedouin  Arabs,  his  descendants. 

From  the  time  that  Ishmael  was  expelled  from  his 
home  and  turned  into  the  wilderness,  no  important  event 
occurred  in  the  family  of  Abraham,  until  his  beloved  Isaac 
had  reached  the  fifteenth  year  of  his  age;  but  at  that 
period  the  doting  father's  faith  was  put  to  a  trial  of  unex- 
ampled severity.  At  the  command  of  the  Almighty,  he 
was  directed  to  take  his  son  to  Mount  Moriah,  and  there 
present  him  on  the  altar  of  sacrifice  as  a  burnt-oftering  to 


THE      PATRIARCHS.  23 

the  Lord.  No  one  else  was  ever  required  to  perform  so 
painful  a  duty;  and  yet  Abraham,  without  a  moment's 
hesitation,  in  the  fullness  of  his  faith,  led  his  son  to  the 
spot  designated,  built  an  altar,  bound  him,  and  then 
stretched  him  upon  it,  ready  for  the  sacrifice ;  but  as  his 
hand  was  raised  to  strike  the  fatal  blow,  it  was  arrested 
by  an  angelic  voice,  and  a  ram,  caught  in  a  neighboring 
thicket,  was  substituted  in  Isaac's  place. 

During  the  subsequent  twenty-two  years,  little  variety 
attended 'the  patriarch's  life,  farther  than  that  which  natu- 
rally arises  from  great  increase  of  wealth ;  but  at  the  expi- 
ration of  that  time  he  had  the  misfortune  to  lose,  in  the 
one  hundred  and  twenty-seventh  year  of  her  age,  his 
beloved  Sarah ;  and  her  death  led  to  the  first  formal 
purchase  of  real  estate  on  record.  On  this  mournful 
occasion,  Abraliam  felt  that  he  needed  for  his  family,  as 
a  burying-place,  a  surer  title  to  the  land  than  that  which 
arises  from  precarious  possession;  and  he  therefore  en- 
tered into  a  negotiation  with  the  sons  of  Heth  for  the 
purchase  of  the  cave  of  Machpelah,  together  with  the  field 
in  which  it  was  situated.  For  this  property  he  paid  four 
hundred  shekels  of  silver;  and  in  the  cave,  which  was  a 
natural  sepulchre,  he  immediately  afterwards  buried  the 
remains  of  Sarah  "  out  of  his  sight." 

Three  years  after  the  death  of  Sarah,  and  when  Isaac 
»vas  forty  years  old,  Abraham,  being  desirous  of  seeing  his 
son  settle  in  life,  sent  his  servant  Eliezer  to  seek  a  wife 
for  him  amongst  his  own  kindred,  lest  he  should  marry  a 
daughter  of  the  idolatrous  people  amongst  whom  he  so- 
journed. Eliezer's  mission  was  entirely  successful ;  and 
having  returned  to  his  master  accompanied  by  Eebekah, 
the  grand-daughter  of  Nahor,  Abraham's  brother,  her 
marriage  with  Isaac  was  immediately  celebrated,  accord- 
ing to  the  usual  custom  of  the  East. 


24  THE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

After  the  marriage  and  settlement  of  Isaac,  Abraham 
himself  married  Keturah,  by  whom  he  had  six  sons,  all  of 
whom,  as  they  grew  to  manhood,  settled  east  and  sonth 
of  Canaan.  At  the  age  of  one  hundred  and  seventy-five 
years,  "Abraham  was  gathered  to  his  fathers,"  and  was 
buried,  by  his  sons  Ishmael  and  Isaac,  in  the  same  cave 
that  had  already  received  the  remains  of  Sarah.  This 
solemn  occasion  seems  to  have  brought  Isaac  and  Ishmael 
together  for  the  only  time  after  the  latter  had  been  sent 
away  with  his  mother.  Ishmael  himself  survived  his  father 
forty-eight  years,  and  then,  in  his  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
seventh  year,  "  died  in  the  presence  of  all  his  brethren." 


SECTION    II. 

Isaac  :  His  Character — Birth  of  Esau  and  Jacob— Esau  barters  away 
his  Birth-right — Is  farther  supplanted  by  Jacob,  who,  by  a  Stratagem, 
receives  the  Birthright  Blessing — Conduct  of  Rebekah  on  the  Occa- 
sion— Jacob  goes  to  Padan-aram — His  Remarkable  Vision  on  the 
Way — Serves  his  Uncle  Laban  Twenty  Years— Marries  Leah  and 
Rachel — Becomes  the  Father  of  the  Twelve  Patriarchs — Returns  to 
Canaan — His  Reception  by  Esau — His  vai-ious  Wanderings — Death 
and  Burial  of  Isaac. 

The  life  of  Isaac  was  distinguished  by  very  few  remarka- 
ble events.  He  was  of  a  meek  and  quiet  spirit,  and,  like 
his  father  Abraham,  devotedly  pious.  Born  in  1892  A.  C, 
fkt  the  age  of  forty  he  married  Eebekah,  and,  in  1832  A.  C, 
twenty  years  after  their  marriage,  the  birth  of  Esau  and 
Jacob  occurred.  Though  they  were  twin  brothers,  yet,  as 
Esau  was  first  born,  by  patriarchal  usage  he  was  entitled 
to  all  the  honors  and  advantages  of  birth-right.  These 
he  early  sacrificed,  however,  for  the  mere  gratification  of 
his  appetite ;  for,  on  one  occasion,  when  grown  to  man- 
hood, as  he  returned,  fatigued  and  exhausted,  from  hunt- 
ing, he  smelled  the  perfume  of  a  savory  dish  of  pottage 


THE      PATRIARCHS.  25 

which  Jacob  had  just  prepared,  and  readily  consented  to 
renounce  his  birth-right  advantages  for  the  dish  which 
seemed  to  him,  in  his  exhausted  state,  so  desirable. 

Isaac,  after  having  dwelt  for  many  years  at  Mamre,  was 
finally  driven  thence  by  famine  to  Gerar,  a  tract  of  coun- 
ti-y  of  which  Abimelech  was  then  king.  The  valley  of 
Gerar  being  very  fertile,  Isaac  there  pitched  his  tent,  and 
cultivated  the  land  with  such  wonderful  success  as  to  excite 
the  envy  and  persecution  of  the  native  inhabitants.  He 
w^as  therefore  compelled  frequently  to  change  his  abode ; 
but  coming  at  length  to  Beersheba,  or  "  the  well  of  the 
oath,"  he  at  once  resolved  to  make  it  his  permanent 
dwelling-place.  To  encourage  him  in  the  purpose  he 
had  formed,  God  now  appeared  to  him,  and  declared,  "  I 
am  the  God  of  Abraham,  thy  father ;  fear  not,  for  I  am 
with  thee,  and  will  bless  thee,  and  multiply  thy  seed,  for 
my  servant  Abraham's  sake.''  And  Isaac,  in  deep  devotion 
and  pious  gratitude  to  his  Maker,  "  builded  an  altar  there, 
and  called  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord."  His-  princely 
character  was,  at  the  same  time,  recognized  by  Abimelech 
and  his  chief  men,  who  entered  into  a  solemn  covenant  of 
amity  with  him. 

Thus  passed  the  time  of  the  patriarch,  his  sons  Esau 
and  Jacob  still  dwelling  with  him,  until  the  one  hundred 
and  thirty-seventh  year  of  his  age,  when,  being  partially 
blind,  and  feeling  other  infirmities  pressing  upon  him. 
he  determined  no  longer  to  delay  the  bestowment  of 
the  patriarchal  blessing.  With  this  view,  he  directed  Esau 
to  prepare  for  him  a  favorite  ('Ish  of  venison,  that  by  par- 
taking of  it  his  parental  affection  might  be  the  more 
strongly  excited,  and  thus  prepare  him  to  bestow,  the 
more  effectually,  his  parting  blessing  upon  his  first-born 
8on. 

Eebekab,  happeniiig  to  overhear  this  interview  between 
2 


26  THE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

Isaac  and  Esau,  at  once  resolved  to  secure  for  her  favorite 
son  the  blessing  designed  for  his  brother.  She  therefore 
directed  Jacob  to  take  advantage  of  Esau's  absence  in  the 
fields  to  obtain  the  venison,  and  bring  her  a  kid,  which  she 
would  prepare  in  so  disguised  a  manner,  that  Isaac  would 
not  be  able  to  tell  the  difference  between  its  flavor  and 
that  of  the  venison.  She  also,  in  order  to  render  the  de- 
ception the  more  complete,  imitated  Esau's  hairiness,  by 
covering  Jacob's  hands  and  neck  with  the  skin  of  the  kid, 
that  Isaac,  feeling  their  surface,  all  doubt  might  at  onco 
be  removed  that  this  w^as  his  very  son  Esau.  The  decep- 
tion proved  entirely  successful;  the  food  was  eaten,  and 
the  following  blessing  pronounced : — "  God  give  thee  of 
tlie  dew  of  heaven,  and  the  fatness  of  the  earth,  and  plenty 
of  corn  and  wine.  Let  people  serve  thee,  and  nations  bow 
down  to  thee.  Be  lord  over  thy  brethrcxi,  and  let  thy 
mother's  sons  bow  down  to  thee ;  and  blessed  be  he  that 
blesseth  thee."  This  important  event  occurred  1761 
A.  C.      . 

Isaac  had  scarcely  finished  pronouncing  the  blessing  of 
the  first-born  upon  Jacob,  when  Esau  presented  himself 
before  him  with  the  dish  of  venison  that  he  had  been 
directed  to  prepare ;  and  the  scene  that  followed  was  full 
of  both  terror  and  anguish.  The  old  patriarch  perceived 
at  once  that  Esau,  by  the  art  and  cunning  of  Rebekah  and 
Jacob,  had  been  supplanted  ;  and  however  much  the  cir- 
cumstance might  grieve  him,  the  prophetic  blessing  was 
forever  lost  to  his  favorite  son,  for  whom  he  had  now 
nothing  in  reserve  but  a  general  benediction.  To  con- 
sole Esau,  therefore,  in  some  degree,  for  his  irreparable 
loss,  he  declared  to  him,  '"  Behold,  thy  dwelling  shall  be 
the  fatness  of  the  earth,  and  of  the  dew  of  heaven  from 
above ;  and  by  thy  sword  shalt  thou  live,  and  shalt  serve 
thy  brother  J  and  it  shall  come  to  pass^  when  thou  shall 


THE      PATKIARCHS.  27 

nave  the  dominion,  that  thou  shalt  break  his  yoke  from 
off  thy  neck." 

The  conduct  of  Rebekah  in  this  transaction  can  be  justi- 
fied on  no  other  ground  than  by  supposing  that  she  made 
he  purpose  of  God  her  guiding  principle,  instead  of  his 
commandment;  for  it  must  not  be  forgotten,  that  before 
her  chiklren  were  born  it  had  been  revealed  to  her,  that 
*'  the  elder  should  serve  the  younger."  Jacob,  doubtless, 
justified  his  part  of  the  deception  by  supposing  that,  as  he 
had  purchased  the  birth-right,  he  was  also  entitled  to  the 
chief  blessing. 

Esau  was  so  highly  incensed  against  Jacob  for  thus 
supplanting  him  a  second  time,  that  he  immediately 
resolved  to  take  his  life ;  but  as  his  father  was  now  old, 
blind,  and  otherwise  infirm,  and  his  death  soon,  therefore, 
to  be  expected,  he  concluded  to  defer  the  execution  of  his 
design  until  after  his  burial.  The  malice  of  Esau  not 
being  concealed  from  his  mother  Rebekah,  she  determined 
to  send  her  favorite  son  Jacob  for  protection,  to  her 
brother  Laban,  at  Padan-aram  ;  and  in  order  to  obtain 
Isaac's  consent  to  this  measure,  she  reminded  him  of  the 
evil  consequences  that  had  already  resulted  from  the  mar- 
riage of  Esau  with  the  daughter  of  Heth.  Jacob  accord- 
ingly departed  from  the  paternal  roof,  and  set  out  on  his 
journey  to  Padan-aram.  On  the  setting  of  the  sun,  at 
the  close  of  the  first  day's  journey,  he  resolved  to  pass 
the  night  where  he  then  was ;  and  finding  no  house  of 
entertainment  near  the  place,  he  took  a  stone  for  a  pillow, 
anointed  it,  and  lay  down  to  sleep.  In  the  course  of  the 
night  he  had  that  remarkable  dream,  or  vision  of  angelic 
appearances  ascending  and  descending  from  earth  to  hea- 
ven, which  may,  perhaps,  be  regarded  as  the  first  direct 
indication  of  a  special  providence  over  him. 

When  Jacob  awoke  in  the  morning,  he  called  the  place 


28  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

Dethel,  or  bouse  of  God  ;  and  he  vowed  a  vow,  saying, 
"  If  God  will  be  with  me,  and  will  keep  me  in  tbis  way 
tbat  I  go,  and  will  give  me  bread  to  eat,  and  raiment  to 
put  on,  so  tbat  I  can  come  again  to  my  father's  bouse  in 
peace,  then  shall  the  Lord  be  my  God,  and  tbis  stone 
which  I  have  set  for  a  pillar,  shall  be  God's  house ;  and 
of  all  that  thou  sbalt  give  me,  I  shall  surely  give  the  tenth 
unto  thee."  This  important  transaction  contains  the  ear- 
liest direct  allusion  on  record,  to  a  religious  vow;  the  cere- 
mony of  anointing  a  pillar  of  stone  with  oil ;  and,  with  the 
exception  of  the  incident  in  the  case  of  Abraham  and  Mel- 
chizedek,  to  a  tithe  of  the  tenth  of  our  property  "  as  our 
offering  to  the  Lord." 

Jacob  arrived  at  Padan-aram  in  the  eightieth  year  of 
bis  age,  and  soon  after  made  a  contract  with  bis  uncle 
Laban  to  serve  him  fourteen  years  for  his  two  daughters 
Rachel  and  Leah.  At  the  expiration  of  that  time,  he  ex- 
pressed a  desire  to  return  into  the  land  of  Canaan  ;  but, 
having  very  advantageous  terms  proposed  to  him  by  bis 
uncle,  be  concluded  to  remain  with  him  six  years  longer. 
At  the  end  of  this  second  contract  with  Laban,  Jacob's 
wealth  in  flocks  and  herds  had  so  greatly  increased,  tbat 
it  exceeded  that  of  his  father-in-law ;  and  having  received 
the  divine  command — "  Return  into  the  land  of  thy  fathers, 
and  to  thy  kindred,  and  I  will  be  with  thee ;  for  I  am  the 
God  of  Bethel,  where  thou  anointedst  the  pillar,  and  where 
thou  vowedst  a  vow  unto  me ;  get  thee  from  this  land,  and 
return  to  the  land  of  thy  kindred  " — he  at  once  made  the 
necessary  preparations  for  his  journey. 

As  Jacob  approached  the  borders  of  Canaan,  bis  appre- 
hension of  evil  from  the  hand  of  Esau  became  so  alarm- 
ingly great,  that,  after  offering  a  fervent  prayer  to  the 
Almighty  for  protection,  be  endeavored  to  appease  his 
brother's    anger   by   a   magnificent   present.      God    bad, 


THE      PATRIARCHS.  29 

meantime,  however,  entirely  changed  the  feelings  of  Esati 
towards  Jacob ;  and  instead,  therefore,  of  meeting  him  in 
a  hostile  manner,  he  welcomed  his  return  with  the  most 
marked  kindness.  In  all  this,  Jacob  saw  and  acknow- 
ledged the  hand  of  his  Divine  Protector.  Just  before  he 
entered  the  land  of  Canaan,  and  towards  the  close  of  his 
wearisome  journey,  Jacob  pitched  his  tent  at  Succoth; 
but  he  soon  after  removed  to  Shalem,  a  city  of  Shechem, 
within  the  borders  of  the  promised  land.  Designing  to 
take  up  his  permanent  abode  at  this  place,  he  purchased 
a  large  tract  of  land  of  the  children  of  Hamor,  and  erected 
an  altar  to  the  "  God  of  Israel."  Jacob's  family  and  de- 
pendents had  now  become  very  numerous  and  powerful. 
By  his  wife  Leah  he  had  six  sons,  viz.,  Eeuben,  Simeon, 
Levi,  Judah,  Issachar,  and  Zebulun,  and  also  a  daughter 
named  Dinah ;  and  Kachel  had  brought  him  his  best- 
beloved  son,  Joseph.  By  Leah's  hand-maid,  Zilpah,  he 
had  two  sons.  Gad  and  Asher ;  and  by  Bilhah,  the  hand- 
maid of  Kachel,  he  had  Dan  and  Naphtali.  The  children 
of  these  secondai^  wives  were  not,  however,  considered 
equal  to  those  of  Kachel  and  Leah. 

Jacob  had  resided  but  a  short  time  at  Shalem  before 
the  unfortunate  seduction  of  his  daughter  Dinah  by  She- 
chem, the  son  of  Hamor,  and  the  cruel  revenge  of  his 
sons,  Simeon  and  Levi,  upon  the  Shechemites,  compelled 
him  to  leave  that  place  and  seek  a  new  abode.  He  there- 
fore determined  to  remove  to  Bethel,  the  place  where  God 
first  appeared  to  him,  saying  to  his  sons,  "Let  us  arise 
and  go  up  to  Bethel,  and  I  will  make  there  an  altar  unto 
God,  who  answered  me  in  the  days  of  my  distress,  and 
was  with  me  in  the  way  I  w^ent."  From  Bethel,  where 
Jacob's  stay  was  very  short,  he  removed  southward 
towards  Bethlehem  ;  and  in  his  way  thither  one  of  the 
heaviest  afflictions  of  his  life  occurred.     His  beloved  wife 


30  THE     ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

Rachel  expired  at  Ephrath,  on  the  way  to  Betbleheiu, 
soon  after  she  had  given  birth  to  her  second  son,  Benja- 
min ;  and,  to  honor  her  memory,  Jacob  caused  a  pillar  to 
be  placed  over  her  grave,  which  was  still  remaining  in  thu 
time  of  Moses. 

Daring  the  whole  of  Jacob's  wanderings,  his  father 
Isaac,  it  would  seem,  continued  to  reside  at  Mamre ;  and 
as  the  time  of  the  death  of  the  venerable  patriarch  ap- 
proached, his  two  sons  repaired  to  his  dwelling-place,  in 
order  to  be  present  at  his  funeral.  Isaac  died  soon  after, 
at  the  advanced  age  of  one  hundred  and  eighty.  "And 
he  was  gathered  to  his  people,  being  old  and  fall  of  days 
and  his  sons  Esau  and  Jacob  buried  him  " — doubtless  in 
the  cave  of  Machpelah,  which  had  now  become  the  com- 
mon sepulchre  of  the  family.  From  this  period,  the  name 
of  Esau  ceases  to  be  mentioned. 


SECTION    III 


Jacob  : — Joseph  designated  as  his  Successor — Sent  in  search  of  his 
Brethren — Thrown  into  a  Pit — Sold  into  Egypt — Cast  into  a  Prison — 
Interprets  the  Dreams  of  the  Chief  Baker,  the  Chief  Butler,  and  the 
King — Made  Governor  of  Egypt — The  Famine — Its  Extent — Joseph's 
Brethren  sent  down  to  Egypt  to  buy  Corn — Their  Reception— Joseph 
made  known  to  them  —  The  eloquent  Address  of  Judah — Joseph's 
Reply. 

From  the  death  of  Eachel,  1729  A.  C,  Jacob  seems  to 
have  placed  his  exclusive  afiections  upon  her  two  sons, 
Jose2:ih  and  Benjamin ;  especially  upon  the  former,  whom 
he  early  designated,  by  bestowing  upon  him  the  princely 
robe,  as  his  own  successor  in  the  princely,  the  priestly, 
and  the  patriarchal  office.  This  mark  of  distinction  so 
incensed!  Joseph's  brethren,  that  they  determined  to  re- 
move him  out  of  their  way ;  and  they,  therefore,  diligently 
watched  for  an  opportunity  to  carry  their  design  into  exe- 


THE      PATRIARCHS.  31 

cution.  This  opportunity,  so  anxiously  sought  for,  soon 
presented  itself.  J.acob  now  dwelt  in  the  vale  of  Hebron ; 
but  as  that  place  did  not  atford  sufficient  pasturage  for  his 
numerous  flocks  and  herds,  he  sent  his  elder  sons  to  dwell 
at  Sliechera,  where  he  still  owned  the  land  which  he  had 
purchased  from  the  sons  of  Hamor.  For  some  reason, 
however,  they  soon  left  Shechem,  and  removed  to  Dothan, 
a  considerable  distance  farther  from  the  abode  of  their 
father. 

Jacob,  not  hearing  for  some  time  from  his  absent  sons, 
at  length  sent  Joseph,  who  was  then  in  the  seventeenth  year 
of  his  age,  in  search  of  them ;  and,  as  they  saAv  the  youth 
approaching,  they  immediately  resohed  to  seize  the  present 
opportunity  for  the  execution  of  their  wished-for  purpose 
against  his  life.  Keuben,  however,  opposed  their  views, 
saying,  "  Let  us  not  kill  him — shed  no  blood ;  but  cast 
him  into  this  pit  in  the  wilderness,  and  lay  no  hand  upon 
him ;  that  he  might  rid  him  out  their  hands,  to  deliver 
him  to  his  father  again."  V/hen  Josepli  came  up  to  them, 
instead  of  saluting  him  as  he,  in  the  innocence  of  his  heart, 
had  fondly  anticipated  they  would,  they  first  stripped  him 
of  his  robe,  and  then  cast  him  into  a  dreary  pit. 

Believing  that  he  would  soon  perish,  Joseph's  brethren, 
excepting  Judah,  now  threw  off  all  farther  care  concerning 
nim ;  but  Judah,  having  some  relentings  about  what  they 
had  done,  resolved  to  save,  if  possible,  the  youth's  life. 
While  he  was  reflecting  upon  the  means  by  which  this 
could  be  done,  a  caravan  of  Ishmaelitish  merchants,  on 
their  way  to  Egypt,  approached ;  and  as  Judah  perceived 
them,  he  said  to  his  brethren,  "  What  profit  is  there  if  we 
slay  our  brother,  and  conceal  his  blood  ?  Come,  let  us 
sell  him  to  the  Ishmaelites,  and  let  not  our  hands  be  upon 
him,  for  he  is  our  brother,  and  our  flesh."  To  this  pro- 
posal they  all  immediately  assented  but  Reuben,  who  had 


32  THK      ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

withdrawn  from  the  company,  probably  to  devise  some 
means  by  which  to  save  the  life  of  his  young  brother.  As 
money  was  not  the  object  of  the  sale,  the  bargain  with  the 
Ishmaelites  was  soon  made ;  the  price  which  they  paid  foi' 
Joseph  being  only  twenty  pieces  of  silver,  or  a  little  more 
than  twelve  dollars.  The  next  thing  was  to  conceal  the 
crime  which  they  had  committed,  from  their  father ;  and 
the  device  to  which  they  finally  resorted  for  this  purpose, 
was,  to  dip  Joseph's  coat  in  the  blood  of  a  kid,  and  send 
it  to  Jacob.  The  old  patriarch  instantly  recognized  the 
coat,  and  exclaimed,  "  An  evil  beast  hath  devoured  him. 
Joseph  is,  without  doubt,  rent  in  pieces,  and  I  will  go 
down  into  the  grave  unto  my  son." 

The  Ishmaelitish  merchants  had  no  sooner  arrived  in 
Egypt  than  the  prepossessing  appearance  of  Joseph 
secured  for  him  a  purchaser.  He  was  bought  by  Poti- 
phar,  one  of  the  chief  officers  of  the  king  s  court ;  and 
such  was  the  fidelity  with  which  he  served  his  master,  that 
Potiphar  soon  committed  the  entire  care  of  his  property 
into  his  hands.  Joseph's  prosperity  was  soon,  however, 
apparently  blasted  ;  for  an  unlawful  attachment  on  the 
part  of  the  wife  of  Potiphar  to  his  person,  and  which  he 
refused  to  reciprocate,  involved  him,  at  once,  in  disgrace 
and  punishment.  Accused  to  his  master  by  this  lewd 
woman,  of  one  of  the  basest  of  crimes,  and  not  being 
able  to  prove  his  innocence,  he  was  cast  into  prison,  and 
there  left  to  perish.  God,  however,  who,  in  all  his  ways 
had  hitherto  been  his  constant  guide,  was  still  with  him ; 
and,  though  forgotten  by  Potiphar,  Omnipotent  power  wasi 
still  his  protector. 

Joseph  had  been  but  a  short  time  in  prison,  before  the 
propriety  of  his  deportment  recommended  him  to  the  head 
keeper,  who  entrusted  the  other  prisoners  to  his  care. 
Among  these  were   two  former  members  of  the   king's 


THE      PATRIARCHS.  33 

household — the  chief  butler  and  the  chief  baker.  On  one 
occasion,  as  he  entered  their  apartments,  he  observed  an 
unusual  sadness  in  their  expression ;  and,  upon  inquiring 
the  cause,  he  learned  that  each  had  had  an  alarming 
dream.  The  dreams  being  related  to  him,  Joseph  imme- 
diately interpreted  them  ;  informing  the  chief  butler  that 
in  three  days  he  should  be  restored  to  his  former  position 
in  the  king's  presence ;  and  then  meekly  added,  "  Think 
on  me  when  it  shall  be  well  with  thee,  and  shew  kindness, 
I  pray  thee,  unto  me ;  and  make  mention  of  me  unto  Pha- 
raoh, and  bring  me  out  of  this  house ;  for  indeed  I  was 
stolen  away  out  of  the  land  of  the  Hebrews ;  and  here 
also  have  I  done  nothing  that  they  should  put  me  into  this 
dungeon."  A  very  ditierent  fate,  however,  awaited  the  chief 
baker ;  for  in  three  days  he  was  to  be  hanged  upon  a  tree. 
As  Joseph  had  predicted,  at  the  expiration  of  three  days 
the  chief  butler  \vas  restored  to  his  office,  and  the  chief 
baker  executed ;  but  the  former  seems  to  have  entirely  for- 
gotten the  young  Hebrew,  whom  he  had  left  in  prison,  and 
he,  accordingly,  lingered  on  in  his  confinement  for  two  tedi- 
ous years.  During  all  this  time  God,  however,  was  pre- 
paring Joseph  for  his  approaching  exaltation ;  and,  to  this 
end,  he  sent  a  dream  unto  Pharaoh,  which  none  of  the 
magicians,  or  wise  men  of  Egypt,  could  interpret.  This 
circumstance  became  known  to  the  chief  butler ;  and 
remembering  his  own  dream,  and  the  interpretation  of  it 
by  Joseph,  he  immediately  communicated  all  the  particu- 
lars to  Pharaoh.  The  king,  therefore,  sent  for  Joseph,  and, 
as  soon  as  he  appeared  in  his  presence,  said  to  him,  "  I 
have  dreamed  a  dream,  and  there  is  none  that  can  inter- 
pret it;  and  I  have  heard  say  of  thee,  that  thou  canst 
understand  a  dream  to  interpret  it."  To  this  flattering 
remark  Joseph,  with  pious  modesty,  replied,  "  It  is  not  in 
me ;  God  shall  give  Pharaoh  an  answer  of  peace." 
2* 


34  THE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

The  dream  of  Pharaoh,  though  double  in  its  form,  was 
of  single  interpretation,  and  was  as  follows : — "  In  my 
dream  I  stood  upon  the  bank  of  the  river,  and  behold  there 
came  up  out  of  the  river  seven  kine,  fat-fleshed,  and  well- 
favored,  and  they  fed  in  a  meadow.  And  behold  seveti 
other  kine  came  up  after  them,  poor  and  very  ill-favored, 
and  lean-fleshed,  such  as  I  never  saw  in  all  the  land  of 
Egypt  for  badness.  And  the  lean  and  ill-favored  kine  did 
eat  up  the  first  seven  fat  kine ;  and  when  they  had  eaten 
them,  it  could  not  be  known  that  they  had  eaten  them ; 
but  they  were  still  ill-favored,  as  at  the  beginning.  So  I 
awoke.  And  I  saw  in  my  dream,  and  behold  seven  ears 
came  up  on  one  stalk,  full  and  good.  And  behold,  seven 
ears,  withered,  and  thin,  and  blasted  with  the  east  wind, 
sprang  up  after  them  ;  and  the  thin  ears  devoured  the 
seven  good  ears.  And  I  told  this  unto  the  magicians,  but 
there  was  none  that  could  declare  it  unto  me."  To  these 
dreams,  Joseph,  without  a  moment's  hesitation,  gave  the 
following  interpretation : — "The  dream  of  Pharaoh  is  one : 
God  hath  showed  Pharaoh  what  he  is  about  to  do.  The 
seven  good  kine  and  the  seven  good  ears  are  seven  years, 
and  the  dream  is  one.  And  the  seven  ill-favored  kine  and 
the  seven  blasted  ears  shall  be  seven  years  of  famine." — 
"  Behold,  there  come  seven  years  of  great  plenty,  through- 
out all  the  land  of  Egypt ;  and  there  shall  arise  after  them 
seven  years  of  famine,  and  all  the  plenty  shall  be  forgotten 
in  the  land  of  Egypt ;  and  the  famine  shall  consume  the 
land.  And  the  plenty  shall  not  be  known  in  the  land,  by 
reason  of  the  famine  following ;  for  it  shall  be  very  grievous." 

Having  interpreted  Pharaoh's  dream,  Joseph  proceeded 
to  recommend  to  the  king,  the  course  he  should  pursue  in 
order  to  guard  against  the  consequences  of  the  approach- 
ing years  of  famine.  He  advised  him  to  select  some  per- 
son of  wisdom  and  discretion,  and  "  set  him  over  the  land 


THE      PATRIARCHS.  35 

of  Egypt ;  and  let  him  appoint  officers  over  the  land,  and 
take  up  the  fifth  part  of  the  [produce  of  the]  land  of  Egypt, 
in  the  seven  plenteous  years.  And  let  them  gather  all  the 
fruits  of  those  good  years  that  come,  and  lay  up  corn  under 
the  hand  of  Pharaoh,  and  let  them  keep  food  in  the  cities. 
And  that  food  shall  be  for  store  to  the  land,  against  the 
seven  years  of  famine,  which  shall  be  in  all  the  land  of 
Egypt ;  that  the  land  perish  not  through  famine."  Struck 
with  the  wisdom,  as  well  as  the  seasonableness  of  this  ad- 
vice, Pharaoh  immediately  replied,  "  Forasmuch  as  God 
hath  shown  thee  all  this,  there  is  none  so  discreet  and  wise 
as  thou  art.  Thou  shalt  be  over  my  house,  and  according 
to  thy  word  shall  all  my  people  be  ruled ;  only  in  the  throne 
will  I  be  greater  than  thou.  I  am  Pharaoh,  and  without 
thee  shall  no  man  lift  up  his  hand  or  his  foot  in  all  the  land 
of  Egypt." 

At  the  time  of  this  sudden  exaltation,  which  occurred  in 
1715  A.  C,  Joseph  was  thirty  years  of  age ;  and  in  order 
to  identify  him  the  more  closely  with  his  own  people,  the 
king  bestowed  upon  him  the  Egyptian  name  of  Zaphnath- 
paaneah,  which  signifies  revealer  of  secrets,  and  gave  him, 
as  his  wife,  Asenath,  the  daughter  of  the  priest,  or  prince  of 
Heliopolis.  By  this  princess,  Joseph  had  two  sens,  the 
elder  of  whom  he  called  IManasseh,  which  signifies  forget- 
ting ;  because,  said  he,  "  God  hath  made  me  forget  all  my 
toils,  and  my  father's  house ;"  and  the  younger,  Ephraim, 
the  meaning  of  which  is  fruitful ;  saying,  "  God  hath 
caused  me  to  be  fruitful  in  the  land  of  my  affliction." 

As  soon  as  Joseph  entered  upon  his  important  office  as 
governor  of  Egypt,  the  seven  years  of  plenty  commenced; 
and  he  immediately  made  preparations  to  lay  up  in  store- 
houses all  the  surplus  productions  of  the  country,  against 
the  years  of  famine.  The  quantity  of  food  thus  collected, 
was  so  great  that  "  it  could  not  be  numbered."    The  sevea 


36  THE     ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

years  of  plenty  had  no  sooner  ended,  than  the  famine  com- 
menced ;  and,  during  the  seven  years  that  followed,  the 
drought  was  so  great  as  to  spread,  not  only  over  the  whole 
of  the  land  of  Egypt,  but  to  extend  into  the  adjacent 
countries,  even  to  that  part  of  the  land  of  Canaan  where 
Jacob  and  his  sons  dwelt.  Jacob,  in  his  distress,  learned 
that  corn  was  to  be  had  in  Egypt,  and  he  sent  his  sons — 
all  but  Benjamin,  whom  he  detained  at  home — down  thither 
to  buy  food,  that  they  might  not'  perish. 

Though  twenty-four  years  had  elapsed,  since  Joseph 
was  sold  into  Egypt,  yet  his  brethren  no  sooner  presented 
themselves  in  his  presence,  than  he  fully  recognized  them. 
He  determined,  however,  to  subject  them  to  some  severe 
trials,  and  thus  remind  them  of  the  wicked  treatment  which 
he  had  received  at  their  hands.  With  this  view,  he  charged 
them  with  being  spies  ;  and,  though  he  supplied  them  with 
corn,  and  allowed  them  to  return  home,  he  bound  Simeon 
and  cast  him  into  prison,  there  to  remain  until  the  other 
brothers  should  bring  down  Benjamin  into  Egypt  as  evi- 
dence of  their  innocence.  Wlien  they  communicated  to 
their  father  Jacob  all  that  had  happened  to  them  in  Egypt, 
and  the  only  condition  on  which  Simeon  could  be  released, 
the  old  patriarch,  in  the  anguish  of  his  soul,  exclaimed, 
"  Me  have  ye  bereaved  of  my  children :  Joseph  is  not,  and 
Simeon  is  not,  and  ye  will  take  Benjamin  away.  All  these 
things  are  against  me."  But  the  case  was  urgent ;  and  to 
these  bitter  reproaches  of  their  father,  Keuben,  therefore, 
replied,  "  Slay  my  two  sons,  if  I  bring  him  not  to  thee  : 
deliver  him  into  my  hand,  and  I  will  bring  him  to  thee 
again."  Jacob,  however,  persisted  in  his  refusal,  saying, 
"  My  son  shall  not  go  down  with  you ;  for  his  brother  is 
dead,  and  he  is  left  alone ;  if  mischief  befall  him  by  the 
way  in  which  ye  go,  then  shall  ye  bring  down  ray  gray 
hairs  with  sorrow  to  the  grave." 


T  H  E     r  1  T  R  I  A  E  C  II  3  .  37 

But  the  provision  brought  from  Egypt  being  at  length 
consumed,  and  the  famine  still  pressing  sorely  npon  the 
land,  Jacob  said  to  his  sons,  "  Go  agam,  buy  us  a  little 
food."  To  this  request  of  his  father  Judah  replied,  "  The 
man  did  solemnly  protest  unto  us,  saying,  '  Ye  shall  not 
see  my  face,  except  your  brother  be  with  you.'  If  thou 
wilt  send  our  brother  with  us,  we  will  go  down  and  bring 
thee  food.  But  if  thou  wilt  not  send  him,  we  will  not  go 
down;  for  the  man  said  unto  us,  'Ye  shall  not  see  my 
face  except  your  brother  be  with  you.'  "  And  Israel  said, 
*'  Wherefore  dealt  ye  so  ill  with  me,  as  to  tell  the  man 
whether  ye  had  yet  a  brother  ?"  And  they  said,  "  The 
man  asked  us  straightly  of  our  state,  and  of  our  kindred, 
saying,  'Is  your  father  yet  alive?  have  ye  another  brother  V 
And  we  told  him  according  to  the  tenor  of  these  words. 
Could  we  know  that  he  would  say,  '  Bring  your  brother 
down?'"  And  Judah  said  unto  Israel,  his  father,  "Send 
the  lad  with  me,  and  we  will  arise  and  go,  that  we  may  live 
and  not  die,  both  we  and  thou,  and  also  our  little  ones.  I 
will  be  surety  for  him ;  of  my  hand  shalt  thou  require  him : 
if  I  bring  him  not  unto  thee,  and  set  him  before  thee,  then 
let  me  have  the  blame  forever.  For  except  we  had  lingered, 
surely  now  we  had  returned  this  second  time."  The  pres- 
sure of  w^ant,  and  this  persuasive  speech  of  Judah,  at  length 
prevailed ;  and  Israel  said,  "  Take  also  your  brother,  and 
arise,  go  again  to  the  man.  And  God  Almighty  give  you 
mercy  before  the  man,  that  he  may  send  away  your  other 
brother  and  Benjamin.  If  I  be  bereaved  of  my  children, 
I  am  bereaved." 

When  the  sons  of  Jacob,  accompanied  by  Benjamin, 
again  presented  themselves  before  Joseph,  he  immediately 
inquired  of  tliem,  "  Is  your  father  well  ?  the  old  man  of 
whom  you  spake,  is  he  yet  alive?"  And  they  answered, 
"  Thy  servant,  our  father,  is  in  good  health,  he  is  yet  alive." 


38  THE     ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

And  they  bowed  down  their  heads  and  made  obeisance." 
And  when  he  saw  his  brother  Benjamin  with  them,  he 
asked,  "  Is  this  your  younger  brother,  of  whom  ye  spake 
unto  me?"  And  he  said,  "God  be  gTacious  unto  thee,  my 
son.'*  The  sight  of  his  own  beloved  brother  so  deeply 
affected  Joseph,  that  he  found  it  impossible  to  restrain  his 
feelings  ;  "  and  he  went  out  and  sought  a  place  to  weep  ; 
and  he  entered  into  his  chamber  and  wept  there." 

Joseph,  having  at  length  composed  himself,  gave  direc 
tion  that  Simeon  should  be  released  from  prison,  and  that 
his  brothers  should  be  that  day  detained  to  dinner.  These 
simple  shepherds  were,  at  first,  very  greatly  abashed  in 
the  presence  of  tlie  governor  of  Egypt ;  but  the  kind  and 
affable  manners  of  Joseph  soon  removed  all  restraints,  and 
they  conversed  with  him  about  Iheir  father  and  their  home 
with  the  utmost  freedom.  At  length  the  time  arrived 
for  them  to  depart ;  but  in  order  to  subject  them  to  one 
more  trial  before  he  made  himself  known,  Joseph  directed 
his  steward  to  place,  as  they  were  about  to  start,  in  the 
mouth  of  Benjamin's  sack,  his  own  silver  cup,  and  after 
they  had  gone,  to  pursue  them,  and  charge  them  with  dis- 
honesty and  ingratitude.  Conscious  of  their  innocence, 
however,  they  voluntarily  offered,  should  the  cup  be  found 
among  them,  that  the  offender  should  be  put  to  death,  and 
the  rest  should  remain  bondsmen  in  Egypt.  But  when, 
on  examination,  the  cup  was  found  in  the  sack  of  Benja 
min,  the  utmost  consternation  filled  every  mind ;  and 
Judah,  at  length,  presenting  himself  in  the  presence  of 
Joseph,  addressed  him  in  the  following  unsurpassed  strain 
of  eloquence : 

''  0  my  lord,  let  thy  servant,  I  pray  thee,  speak  a  word 
in  my  lord's  ears,  and  let  not  thine  anger  bum  against  thy 
servant,  for  thou  art  even  as  Pharaoh.  My  lord  asked  his 
servants  saying,  '  Have  ye  a  father  or  a  brother  V     And 


THE      PATRIARCHS.  39 

we  said  unto  my  lord,  '  We  have  a  father,  an  old  man,  and 
a  child  of  his  old  age,  a  little  one ;  and  his  brother  is  dead, 
and  he  alone  is  left  of  his  mother,  and  his  father  loveth 
him.'  And  thou  saidst  unto  thy  servants,  '  Bring  him 
down  unto  me,  that  I  may  set  mine  eyes  upon  him.'  And 
we  said  unto  my  lord,  '  The  lad  cannot  leave  his  father ;  for 
if  he  should  leave  his  father,  his  father  would  die.'  And 
thou  saidst  unto  thy  servants,  '  Except  your  youngest 
brother  come  down  with  you,  ye  shall  see  my  face  no 
more.'  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  we  came  up  unto  thy 
servant,  my  father,  we  told  him  the  words  of  my  lord. 
And  our  father  said,  '  Go  again,  and  buy  us  a  little  food.' 
And  we  said.  'We  cannot  go  down :  if  our  youngest  brother 
be  mth  us,  then  will  we  go  down ;  for  we  may  not  see  the 
man's  face,  except  our  youngest  brother  be  with  us.'  And 
thy  servant,  my  father,  said  unto  us,  '  Ye  know  that  my 
wife  bare  me  two  sons ;  and  the  one  went  out  from  me, 
and  I  said.  Surely  he  is  torn  to  pieces;  and  I  saw  him  not 
since.  And  if  ye  take  this  also  from  me,  and  mischief 
befall  him,  ye  shall  bring  down  my  gi'ay  hairs  with  sorrow 
to  the  grave.'  Now,  therefore,  when  I  come  to  thy  ser- 
vant, my  father,  and  the  lad  be  not  with  us  (seeing  that 
his  life  is  bound  up  in  the  lad's  life),  it  shall  come  to  pass, 
when  he  seeth  that  the  lad  is  not  with  us,  that  he  will  die  ; 
and  thy  servants  shall  bring  down  the  gray  hairs  of  thy 
servant,  our  father,  with  sorrow  to  the  grave.  For  thy 
servant  became  surety  for  the  lad  unto  my  father,  saying, 
'  If  I  bring  him  not  unto  thee,  then  I  shall  bear  the  blame 
to  my  father  for  ever.'  Now,  therefore,  I  pray  thee,  let 
thy  servant  abide,  instead  of  the  lad,  a  bondman  to  my 
lord ;  and  let  the  lad  go  up  with  his  brethren.  For  how 
shall  I  go  up  to  my  father,  and  the  lad  be  not  with  me? 
lest,  peradventure,  I  see  the  evil  tliat  shall  come  on  my 
father." 


40  THE     ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

The  effect  of  this  speech  of  Judah,  upon  the  feelings  oi 
Joseph,  was  so  powerful,  that  he  could  no  longer  restrain 
his  emotions;  and  he  therefore  ciied  out,  "  Cause  every 
man  to  go  out  from  me."  And  he  wept  aloud,  so  that  the 
Egyptians  and  the  house  of  Pharaoh  heard  him.  And 
Joseph  said  unto  his  brethren,  "  I  am  Joseph :  doth  my 
father  yet  live?"  And  his  brethren  could  not  answer 
him ;  for  they  were  troubled  at  his  presence.  And  Joseph 
said  unto  his  brethren,  "  Come  near  unto  me ;"  and  he 
said,  "  I  am  Joseph  your  brother,  whom  ye  sold  into 
Egypt.  Now,  therefore,  be  not  grieved,  nor  angry  with 
yourselves,  that  ye  sold  me  hither ;  for  God  did  send  me 
before  you  to  preserve  life.  For  these  two  years  hath  the 
famine  been  in  the  land ;  and  yet  there  are  five  years  in 
the  which  there  shall  be  neither  earing  nor  harvest.  And 
God  sent  me  before  you,  to  preserve  you  a  posterity  in  the 
earth,  and  to  save  your  lives  by  a  great  deliverance.  So 
now  it  was  not  you  that  sent  me  hither,  but  God  ;  and  he 
hath  made  me  a  father  to  Pharaoh,  and  lord  of  all  his  house, 
and  a  ruler  throughout  all  the  land  of  Egypt.  Haste  ye, 
and  go  up  to  my  father,  and  say  unto  him,  '  Thus  saith  thy 
son  Joseph :  God  hath  made  me  lord  of  all  Egypt ;  come 
down  unto  me,  tarry  not.  And  thou  shalt  dwell  in  the 
land  of  Goshen ;  and  thou  shalt  be  near  unto  me,  thou, 
and  thy  children,  and  thy  children's  children,  and  thy 
flocks,  and  thy  herds,  and  all  that  thou  hast.  And  there 
will  I  nourish  thee  (for  yet  there  are  five  years  of  famine), 
lest  thou,  and  thy  household,  and  all  that  thou  hast,  come 
to  poverty.  And  behold,  your  eyes  see,  and  the  eyes  of 
my  brother  Benjamin,  that  it  is  my  mouth  that  speaketh 
unto  you.  And  ye  shall  tell  my  father  of  all  my  glory  in 
Egypt,  and  of  all  that  ye  have  seen ;  and  ye  shall  haste,  and 
bring  down  my  father  hither."  "And  he  fell  upon  his  bro- 
ther Benjamin's  neck  and  wept ;  and  Benjamin  wept  upon 


THE      PATRIARCHS.  41 

bis  neck.  Moreover,  he  kissed  all  his  brethren  and  wept 
upon  them,  and  after  that  his  brethren  talked  with  him." 

A  more  interesting  scene  than  is  here  exhibited,  it  would 
be  very  dijBBcult  to  imagine.  The  kindness,  tenderness, 
and  sincerity  of  Joseph  to  his  brethren,  who  had  so  deeply 
injured  him,  is  worthy  of  the  highest  degree  of  admira- 
tion. 

The  intelligence  of  the  arrival  of  Joseph's  brethren  in 
Egypt,  soon  reached  the  ears  of  Pharaoh ;  and  he  imme- 
diately desired  him  to  invite  his  father  and  his  whole 
family  to  come  and  live  in  Egypt,  and  occupy  the  best  of 
the  land.  To  remove  Jacob  and  his  substance  tliither,  the 
king  sent  wagons  and  asses ;  and  when  Joseph's  brothers 
arrived  in  Canaan,  and  communicated  the  happy  intelli- 
gence to  Jacob,  that  Joseph  was  still  alive,  and  was  gover- 
nor of  all  Egypt,  the  news  was  so  overwhelming  that  tlie 
old  patriarch  fainted  ;  but  having  ^soon  after  revived,  he 
exclaimed,  "  It  is  enough ;  Joseph,  my  son,  is  yet  alive : 
T  will  go  down  and  see  him  before  I  die." 


SECTION    IV. 


Joseph  : — Removal  of  Jacob's  Family  into  E^^ypt — Their  Reception- 
Settlement  in  Goshen — Jacob's  approaching  Dissolution — His  final 
Benediction  upon  his  Children — His  Death,  and  imposing  Funeral  — 
Fears  of  Joseph's  Brethren — Joseph's  renewed  Promise  of  Protec- 
tion— His  Death — The  Presei^vation  of  his  Body. 

When  Jacob  had  recovered  from  the  effect  of  the  joy- 
ful surprise  which  the  intelligence  he  had  received  from 
Egypt,  by  the  return  of  his  sons,  occasioned,  he  immedi 
ately  took  his  sons,  and  their  wives,  and  their  children, 
and  their  flocks  and  herds,  and  all  that  they  possessed, 
and  set  out  on  his  journey  towards  Egypt.  Eeflecting, 
however,  when  he  arrived  at  Beersheba,  on  the  southern 
border  of  Canaan,  that  so  important  a  step  as  the  removing 


42  THE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

of  liis  whole  family  into  a  strange  country,  ought  not  to 
be  taken  without  the  sanction  of  the  Almighty,  he  there 
erected  an  altar,  and  offered  a  sacrifice  to  the  God  of  his 
father  Isaac.  And  Grod  spake  unto  Israel  in  the  vision  of 
the  night,  and  said,  "Jacob,  Jacob:"  and  he  said,  "Here 
am  I."  And  he  said,  "I  am  the  God  of  thy  father:  fear 
not  to  go  down  into  Egypt ;  for  I  will  there  make  of  thee 
a  great  nation.  I  will  go  down  wdth  thee  into  Egypt ;  and 
I  will  also  surely  bring  thee  up  again ;  and  Joseph  shall 
put  his  hand  upon  thine  eyes." 

Encouraged  by  this  express  declaration  of  the  Divine 
approbation,  Jacob  went  forward,  and  when  he  reached 
the  land  of  Goshen,  in  the  northeastern  part  of  Egypt,  he 
sent  Judah  before  him  to  inform  Joseph  of  his  arrival. 
And  Joseph  made  ready  his  chariot,  and  went  up  to  meet 
Israel,  his  father,  to  Goshen,  and  presented  himself  unto 
him ;  and  he  fell  on  hi§  neck,  and  wept  on  his  neck  a  good 
while.  And  Israel  said  unto  Joseph,  "  Now  let  me  die, 
since  I  have  seen  thy  face,  because  thou  art  yet  alive." 
Joseph,  having  thus  welcomed  his  father,  next  gave  his 
brethren  particular  directions  respecting  their  conduct 
when  they  should  come  into  the  presence  of  Pharaoh,  and 
then  hastened  to  inform  the  king  of  the  arrival  of  his 
father  ;  and  Pharaoh  immediately  authorized  Joseph  to 
settle  his  father  and  his  family  in  such  part  of  Egypt  as 
should  be  found  best  suited  to  their  habits  of  life.  The  land 
of  Goshen,  being  rich  and  fertile,  and  well  adapted  to  the 
pursuits  of  shepherds — having  the  wilderness  in  its  imme- 
diate vicinity — was  at  once  selected  by  Joseph  as  the  future 
abode  of  his  father  and  his  brethren. 

The  Israelites  anived  in  Egypt  in  170G  A.  C,  and  they 
were  at  this  time,  exclusive  of  the  wives  of  Jacob's  sons, 
over  seventy  in  number. 

As  soon  as  Jacob  had  arrange  d  his  household,  he  was 


THE      PATRIARCHS.  43 

presented  by  Joseph  to  Pharaoh  ;  and  the  old  patriarch 
immediately  proceeded  to  bestow  upon  the  king  his  bene- 
diction. Pharaoh,  struck  with  his  venerable  appearance, 
at  once  asked  him  how  old  he  was  ;  and  Jacob  replied, 
"  The  days  of  the  years  of  my  pilgrimage  are  a  hundred 
and  thirty  years :  few  and  evdl  have  the  days  of  the  years 
of  my  life  been,  and  I  have  not  attained  unto  the  days  of 
the  years  of  the  life  of  my  fathers  in  the  days  of  their  pil- 
grimage." Jacob  had,  at  this  period,  long  been  lame,  and 
the  difficulty  Avith  which  he  moved,  together  with  the  heart- 
desolating  calamities,  of  which  he  had  so  frequently  been 
the  subject,  doubtless  caused  him  to  appear  much  older 
than  he  really  was. 

Eameses,  the  particular  part  of  Goshen  which  Joseph 
'selected  as  the  residence  of  his  fixther  and  brothers,  was 
the  best  of  the  land ;  and  here  he  amply  supplied  them 
with  provisions  during  the  remaining  four  years  of  the 
famine.  After  the  famine  had  ceased,  the  Israelites  con- 
tinued in  the  quiet  possession  of  their  new  abode ;  and, 
from  the  fostering  care  of  Joseph,  together  with  the  unusual 
luxuriance  of  the  soil,  both  their  number  and  their  ^vealth 
rapidly  increased. 

After  Jacob  had  resided  in  Egypt  seventeen  years,  he 
began  to  feel  that  the  time  of  his  departure  was  at  hand ; 
and  he  therefore  sent  for  Joseph  and  required  of  him  an 
oath,  that  he  would  not  bury  him  in  Egypt,  but  would 
carry  him,  after  his  death,  to  the  cave  of  Machpelah ;  the 
burying-place  of  his  fathers,  in  the  land  of  Canaan.  He 
then  stretched  forth  his  hands,  and  crossing  them  before 
him,  placed  the  right  hand  upon  the  head  of  Ephraim,  and 
the  left  upon  the  head  of  Manasseh,  and  then  pronounced 
his  dying  blessing  upon  the  sons  of  Joseph,  saying, 
"  God,  before  whom  my  fathers  Abraham  and  Isaac  did 
walk,  the  God  which  fed  me  all  my  life  long  to  this  day, 


44  THE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

the  angel  wliich  redeemed  me  from  all  evil,  bless  the 
lads ;  and  let  my  name  be  named  on  them,  and  the  name 
of  my  fathers  Abraham  and  Isaac ;  and  let  them  grow  into 
a  multitude  in  the  midst  of  the  earth." 

The  last  important  office  of  Jacob's  life  still  remainec* 
to  be  performed.  Divinely  inspired,  he  called  together  all 
his  sons,  and  prophetically  declared  to  each  of  them  the 
future  condition  of  his  descendants,  as  a  tribe  and  nation, 
intimating  that  the  moral  character  of  the  father  should, 
in  each  case,  be  impressed  upon  his  descendants. 

Eeuben,  though  the  first  born,  and  "  the  excellency  of 
dignity,  and  the  excellency  of  power,"  was  still  pro- 
nounced as  unstable  as  water,  and  his  descendants  were 
not  to  rise  to  gi'eat  excellence  or  power. 

Upon  Simeon  and  Levi,  for  their  treachery  and  cru- 
elty to  the  Shechemites,  the  severe  sentence  was  pro- 
nounced, "  Cursed  be  their  anger,  for  it  was  fierce,  and 
their  wrath,  for  it  was  cruel :  I  will  divide  them  in  Judah, 
and  scatter  them  in  Israel."  The  last  of  these  predictions 
was  literally  fulfilled  in  the  after  condition  of  these  tribes ; 
for  the  descendants  of  Simeon  had  no  fixed  inheritance  in 
the  land  of  Canaan,,  but  wandered  about  from  place  to 
place  as  itinerant  schoolmasters  ;  while  the  descendants 
of  Levi,  being  devoted  to  the  priestly  office,  were  divided 
amongst  the  other  tribes,  each  of  which  furnished  a  certain 
umber  of  cities  for  their  abode. 

The  patriarch's  prediction  with  regard  to  the  future  des- 
tiny of  the  tribe  of  Judah,  was  rich  in  blessing ;  for  not 
only  were  superior  dignity  and  power  to  be  their  inherit- 
ance, but  from  them  Messiah  was  to  descend.  Hence  the 
prophecy :  "  The  scepter  shall  not  depart  from  Judah,  not 
a  law-giver  from  between  his  feet,  until  Shiloh  come,  and 
unto  him  shall  the  gathering  of  the  people  be." 

The  distinctive  features  of  the  tribes  of  Zebulun,  Issa- 


THE      PATRIARCHS.  45 

^.har,  Dan,  Gad,  Aslier,  and  Naphtali,  are  delineated  with 
equal  accuracy.  The  land  of  the  tribe  of  Zebulun  was  to 
be  situated  on  the  »ea-coast,  and  hence  they  are  described 
as  a  maritime  people  having  ships  and  harbors.  The 
tribe  of  Issachar  was  to  inherit  a  pleasant  land;  but 
they  were  to  be  of  an  abject  spirit,  and  servants  of 
tribute.  Hence  they  possessed  no  dignity,  nor  did  they 
produce  any  distinguished  personage.  Of  the  history  and 
character  of  the  tribe  of  Dan,  we  know  very  little ;  but 
what  is  recorded  of  them,  precisely  corresponds  with 
Jacob's  declaration,  "  Dan  shall  judge  his  people,  as  one 
of  the  tribes  of  Israel."  Of  Gad,  the  patriarch  declared, 
"  A  troop  shall  overcome  him,  but  he  shall  overcome  at 
the  last."  And  of  Asher,  "  His  bread  shall  be  fat,  and  he 
shall  yield  royal  dainties."  But  the  prediction  concern- 
ing Naphtali  is  peculiar  : — "  Naphtali  is  a  hind  let  loose  : 
he  giveth  goodly  words." 

The  benediction  pronounced  by  Jacob  upon  his  be- 
loved Joseph,  was  fraught,  to  a  greater  extent,  with 
temporal  blessings,  than  that  pronounced  even  upon 
Judah ;  but  then,  in  a  spiritual  sense,  it  was  far  inferior, 
inasmuch  as  out  of  Judah  the  Messiah  was  to  come. 
"Joseph  is  a  fruitful  bough,  even  a  fruitful  bough  by  a 
well,  whose  branches  run  over  the  v/all.  The  axchers  have 
sorely  grieved  him,  and  shot  at  him,  and  hated  him ;  but 
his  bow  abode  in  strength,  and  the  arms  of  his  hands  wer 
made  strong  by  the  hand  of  the  mighty  God  of  Jacob: 
from  thence  is  the  Shepherd,  the  Stone  of  Israel."  By 
the  shepherd  and  stone  of  Israel  is,  perhaps,  intended  to 
be  indicated,  that  the  Messiah  should  derive  his  descent 
from  Joseph  through  the  line  of  his  mother.  Of  Benjamin 
the  patriarch  simply  said,  "He  shall  raven  as  a  wolf:  in 
the  morning  he  shall  devour  his  prey,  and  at  night  he 
shall  divide  the  spoil." 


46  THE     ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

Jacob,  having  finished  blessing  his  sons,  charged  them, 
and  said  unto  them,  "  I  am  to  be  gathered  unto  my  peo- 
ple :  bury  me  with  my  fathers,  in  the  cave  that  is  in  the 
field  of  Epliron  the  Hittite,  in  the  cave  that  is  in  the  field 
of  Machpelah,  which  is  before  Mamre,  in  the  land  of  Ca- 
naan, which  Abraham  bought  with  the  field  of  Ephron  the 
Hittite,  for  the  possession  of  a  burying-place.  (There 
they  buried  Abraham  and  Sarah  his  wife,  and  there  they 
buried  Isaac  and  Rebekah  his  wife  ;  and  there  I  buried 
Leah.)  The  purchase  of  the  field  and  the  cave  that  is  there- 
in, was  from  the  children  of  Heth."  "  And  when  Jacob  had 
made  an  end  of  commanding  his  sons,  he  gathered  up  his 
feet  into  the  bed,  and  yielded  up  the  ghost,  and  was  gath- 
ered unto  his  people."  The  death  of  Jacob  occurred,  as 
was  before  observed,  in  the  one  hundred  and  forty-seventh 
year  of  his  age,  and  1689  A.  C. 

Joseph  was  in  attendance  upon  his  father  at  the  time 
of  his  death ;  and  as  soon  as  he  perceived  that  the  spirit 
of  the  patriarch  had  taken  its  departure,  he  "fell  upon  his 
face,  and  wept  upon  him,  and  kissed  him.  And  Joseph 
commanded  his  servants,  the  physicians,  to  embalm 
Israel."  The  usual  period  of  mourning  in  Egypt  was 
forty  days  ;  but  their  great  respect  for  Joseph,  and  their 
veneration  for  his  father,  induced  the  Egyptians,  on  this 
occasion,  to  extend  the  time  of  their  mourning  to  seventy 
days.  When  this  period  had  elapsed,  Joseph  informed 
Pharaoh  of  the  oath  which  his  father  had  exacted  from 
him  respecting  his  burial ;  and  the  king  readily  gave  him 
permission  to  carry  the  body  of  his  father  into  the  land  of 
Canaan,  and  bury  it  vith  those  of  his  ancestors,  Isaac  and 
Abraham. 

Jacob's  funeral  procession  was  imposing,  perhaps,  be- 
yond a  parallel.  All  the  servants  of  Pharaoh,  and  all  the 
elders  of  the  land   of  Egypt,  and  also  all  the  elders  of 


THE      PATRIARCHS.  47 

Israel,  and  all  Joseph's  brethren  and  their  households, 
except  such  children  as  were  too  young  to  make  the  jour- 
ney, accompanied  him  on  this  mournful  occasion.  "  And 
there  went  up  with  him  both  chariots  and  horsemen ;  and 
it  was  a  very  great  company.  And  they  came  to  the 
threshing-floor  of  Atad,  which  is  beyond  Jordan,  and 
there  they  mourned  with  a  great  and  very  sore  lamenta- 
tion :  and  they  made  a  mourning  for  his  father  seven 
days."  The  people  of  the  land,  when  they  saw  this  funeral 
procession,  and  observed  their  bitter  lamentation,  said, 
"  This  is  a  grievous  mourning  to  the  Egyptians ;"  and 
the  place  thence  forth  received  the  name  of  the  mourning 
of  the  Egyptians.  "  And  Jacob's  sons  buried  him  in  the 
cave  of  Machpelah,  which  is  before  Mamre ;  and  Joseph 
returned  into  Egypt,  "he  and  his  brethren,  and  all  that 
went  up  with  him  to  bury  his  father." 

And  when  Joseph's  brethren  saw  that  their  father  was 
dead  they  said,  "Joseph,  peradventure,  will  hate  us,  and 
will  certainly  requite  us  all  the  q\\\  we  did  unto  him." 
And  they  sent  messengers  unto  Joseph,  saying,  "  Thy 
father  did  command  before  he  died,  saying,  *  Forgive,  I 
pray  thee,  now,  the  trespass  of  thy  brethren,  and  their  sin, 
for  they  did  unto  thee  evil ;  and  now,  we  pray  thee,  forgive 
the  trespass  of  the  servants  of  the  God  of  thy  father.' " 
"And  Joseph  wept  when  they  spake  unto  him,  and  said 
unto  them,  'Fear  not,  for  am  I  in  the  place  of  God?  But 
as  for  you,  ye  thought  evil  against  me ;  but  God  meant  it 
unto  good,  to  bring  to  pass  as  it  is  this  day,  to  save  much 
people  alive.  Now,  therefore,  fear  ye  not :  I  will  nourish 
you  and  your  little  ones.'  And  he  comforted  them,  and 
spake  kindly  to  them." 

Joseph  died  in  1630  A.  C,  having  survived  his  father 
between  fifty  and  sixty  years ;  and  during  the  whole  of 
that  period,  the  prosperity  and  happiness  of  the  Israelites 


48  THE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

was  uninterrupted.  As  the  time  of  his  death  drew  nigh, 
he  called  his  brethren  around  him  and  addressed  them, 
saying,  "  I  die  ;  and  God  -sviH  surely  visit  you  and  bring 
you  out  of  this  land,  unto  the  land  which  he  swore  to 
Abraham,  and  Isaac,  and  Jacob."  And  he  requested  the 
children  of  Israel  to  swear,  that  when  they  should  remove 
to  that  land,  they  would  carry  with  them  his  bones.  "  So 
Joseph  died,  being  a  hundred  and  ten  years  old ;  and  they 
embalmed  him,  and  he  was  put  in  a  coffin  in  Egypt." 


I92I.         Ill 

PATRIARCHAL  PERIOD.         1491. 

THE  WEST. 

1  THE  HEBBEW  SOJOURNS. 

{       THE  EAST. 

1 

1921 

1900 

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The  Pelasgi 
(Greece). 

CALL  OF  ABRAHAM 

.  1921 

B.C. 

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Moses  (1491). 

1525 
1491 

THE  EXODUS,  1491  B.C.             { 

CHAPTER    THE    SECOND. 
THE  LEGISLATOR. 

SECTION  1. 

Moses  : — Birth  and  Education — Retirement  to  the  Land  of  Midian— 
Marriage  and  Dwelling  in  that  Country— Call  to  deliver  the  Hebrews 
from  Bondage — Directed  to  associate  Aaron  in  the  Commission — 
They  make  known  the  Mission  to  the  People — Appear  before  Pha- 
raoh— Exhibition  of  their  Miraculous  Power — Successive  Miracles — 
Departure  of  the  People  from  Egypt — Passage  of  the  Red  Sea— Song 
of  Triumph. 

Some  years  after  the  death  of  Joseph,  a  new  dynasty 
was  introduced  to  the  throne  of  Egypt,  and  the  Pharaoh 
who  then  reigned  "  knew  not  Joseph,"  nor  recognized  the 
benefits  which  the  country  had  derived  from  his  wise 
administration.  Observing  that  the  Israelites  were  an 
entirely  distinct  people  from  the  Egyptians,  and  that  their 
yearly  increase  was  beyond  all  comparison,  he  became 
alarmed,  lest  they  should  eventually  seize  upon  the 
supreme  power,  and  especially  "lest  war  should  fall  out, 
and  they  should  join  with  the  enemy."  He  therefore 
called  his  counsellors  together,  to  devise  some  means  by 
which  to  check  the  rapid  increase  of  the  Hebrews.  Vari- 
ous schemes  were  recommended  for  this  purpose ;  and  the 
one  which  was  finally  adopted,  would  have  proved  effec- 
tual, had  it  been  perseveringly  executed.  This  was,  to 
drown  every  Hebrew  male  child,  immediately  after  its 
birth,  in  the  river  Nile.  This  law,  it  seems,  was,  for 
some  time,  strictly  observed  ;  but  for  how  long,  is  not 
known.  At  this  critical  period  the  birth  of  Moses,  the 
future  deliverer  of  the  Israelites  from  their  bondage,  oc- 
curred. 
3 


50  THE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

Moses  was  the  son  of  Amram  and  Jochebed,  of  tlie  tribe 
of  Levi,  and  was  born  1571  A.  C.  His  parents  had  two 
other  children,  older  than  himself;  Miriam,  his  sister,  and 
his  brother  Aaron.  Moses,  at  his  birth,  was  exceedingly 
fair,  and  his  mother  was,  therefore,  the  more  anxious  to 
preserve  his  life,  and  save  him  from  falling  under  the  cruel 
edict  of  the  king.  With  this  view,  she  concealed  him  in 
her  own  house  for  three  months  after  his  birth ;  but  when, 
at  the  expiration  of  that  time,  she  found  she  could  evade 
<he  royal  spies  no  longer,  she  constructed  an  ark  of  bul- 
rushes, placed  him  carefully  within  it,  and  then  trusted 
the  precious  venture  to  Almighty  protection.  The  event 
proved  that  the  trust  was  not  in  vain.  Miriam,  his  sister, 
who  had  been  purposely  concealed  to  watch  the  fate  of 
the  infant,  soon  observed  the  daughter  of  Pharaoh  and  her 
female  attendants  approach  the  stream.  The  attention  of 
the  princess  being  immediately  attracted  towards  the  frail 
vessel,  she  caused  it  to  be  brought  to  the  bank  of  the  river ; 
and  when  she  beheld  the  beautiful  face  of  the  weeping  child, 
her  natural  sympathies  prevailed  over  her  prejudices,  and 
she  resolved,  though  aware  that  it  was  a  Hebrew  child,  to 
sav^e  its  life.  At  the  suggestion  of  Miriam,  who  had,  doubt- 
less, received  her  lesson  from  her  mother,  and  had  now 
mingled  in  the  group  around  the  little  ark,  a  Hebrew 
nurse  was  called  to  take  charge  of  the  infant;  and  thus, 
by  the  manifest  overruling  of  Providence,  Moses,  under 
royal  protection,  was  re-committed  to  the  care  of  his  own 
natural  mother. 

How  long  Moses  remained  in  the  house  of  his  parents, 
is  uncertain ;  bat  it  is  evident  that,  though  early  removed 
to  the  court  of  the  king,  and  there  educated  as  heir  appa- 
rent to  the  crown,  his  intercourse  with  his  own  people  was 
continually  kept  up.  Though  in  the  king's  court,  and 
honored  as  the  roya,l  heir,  still  his  sympathies  were  ali 


THE     7,EQ7SJ.ATOK.  ol 

with  his  oppressed  kindred ;  and  on  one  occasion,  when 
ne  saw  an  Egyptian  smiting  an  Israelite,  his  indignation 
became  so  powerfully  excited  that  he  slew  the  Egyptian 
on  the  spot.  On  the  following  day,  as  he  was  walking 
O'dt,  he  observed  two  of  the  Hebrews  striving  together; 
*'  and  he  said  to  him  that  did  the  wrong,  '  Wherefore 
smitest  thou  thy  fellow?'  And  he  said,  'Who  made  thee 
a  prince  and  a  judge  over  us  ?  Intendest  thou  to  kill  me, 
as  thou  killedst  the  Egyptian?'"  Alarmed  thus,  to  dis- 
cover that  the  transaction  of  the  previous  day  was  publicly 
known,  and  fearing  lest  the  intelligence  should  reach  the 
king,  and  his  own  life  be  taken  in  return,  Moses,  now 
in  the  fortieth  year  of  his  age,  left  the  land  of  Egypt, 
and  took  refuge  with  Jethro,  the  wise  and  pious  priest  or 
prince  of  Midian,  a  district  in  the  southern  part  of  Arabia. 
After  having  remained  some  time  as  Jethro's  guest,  Moses 
entered  into  arrangement  with  him  to  take  charge  of 
his  flocks;  and  by  his  wise  and  upright  conduct  he  so 
thoroughly  ingratiated  himself  in  his  favor,  that  the  prince 
bestowed  his  daughter  Zipporah  upon  him  in  marriage. 
By  this  princess,  Moses  had  two  sons,  the  elder  of  whom 
he  called  Gershom,  which  signifies  a  stranger  here  ;  and 
the  younger,  Eliezer,  or  the  Lord  is  my  help. 

In  the  land  of  Midian,  Moses  passed  forty  years  in  great 
retirement  and  seclusion  from  worldly  care ;  but  not  in 
idleness ;  for  during  the  whole  of  that  period  he  was  the 
faithful  keeper  of  Jethro's  flocks.  The  time,  however,  had 
now  arrived  for  Israel's  oppressions  to  cease ;  and  as  Moses 
was  watching  his  flocks  near  Mount  Horeb,  "  the  angel  of 
the  Lord  appeared  unto  him  in  a  flame  of  fire  out  of  the 
midst  of  a  bush  ;  and  he  looked,  and  behold  the  bush 
burned  in  the  fire,  and  the  bush  was  not  consumed.  And 
Moses  said,  '  I  will  now  turn  aside  and  see  this  great  sight 
why  the  bush  is  not  burned.'     And  when  the  liOrd  saw 


o2  THE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

that  ne  turned  aside  to  see,  God  called  to  him  out  of  the 
midst  of  the  bush  and  said,  'Moses,  Moses;'  and  he  said, 
'  Here  am  I.'  And  he  said,  '  Draw  not  nigh  hi*"her;  put 
off  thy  shoes  from  off  thy  feet,  for  the  place  whereon  thou 
standest  is  holy  ground.'  Moreover,  he  said,  '  I  am  the 
God  of  thy  fathers,  the  God  of  Abraham,  the  God  of  Isaac, 
and  the  God  of  Jacob.'  And  Moses  hid  his  face,  for  he 
was  afraid  to  look  upon  God.  And  Jehovah  said,  'I  have 
surely  seen  the  affliction  of  my  people  which  are  in  Egypt, 
and  have  heard  their  cry,  by  reason  of  their  taskmasters ; 
for  I  know  their  sorrows.  And  I  am  come  down  to  de- 
liver them  out  of  the  hand  of  the  Egyptians,  and  to  bring 
them  up  out  of  that  land,  unto  a  good  land  and  a  large, 
unto  a  land  flowing  with  milk  and  honey ;  unto  the  place 
of  the  Canaanites,  and  the  Hittites,  and  the  Amorites,  and 
the  Perizzites,  and  the  Hivites,  and  the  Jebusites.  Now, 
therefore,  behold  the  cry  of  the  children  of  Israel  is  come 
up  unto  me  :  and  I  have  also  seen  the  oppression  wherewith 
the  Egyptians  oppress  them.  Come  now,  therefore,  and 
I  vvill  send  thee  unto  Pharaoh,  that  thou  may  est  bring 
forth  my  people,  the  children  of  Israel,  out  of  the  land  of 
Egypt.'" 

This  extraordinary  manifestation  and  commission  greatly 
alarmed  Moses ;  and  willing  to  excuse  himself  from  under- 
taking so  arduous  a  task,  he  said  to  the  Lord,  "  Who  am 
I,  that  I  should  go  unto  Pharaoh,  and  that  I  should  bring 
the  people  of  Israel  out  of  Egypt ;  and  what  shall  I  say 
unto  them  V  And  God,  to  encourage  him,  replied,  "  Say 
unto  them  I  AM  THAT  I  AM,  hath  sent  thee."  But  Moses, 
still  reluctant  to  go,  began  to  use  argument  with  the  Al- 
mighty, saying,  "  I  am  slow  of  speech,  and  of  a  slow  tongue." 
"And  the  Lord  said  unto  him,  'Who  hath  made  man's 
mouth  ?  or  who  maketh  the  dumb,  or  the  deaf,  or  the  see- 
ing, or  tlie  blind?     Have  not  I,  the  Lord?     Now,  there- 


THE      LEGISLATOR.  53 

fore,  go,  and  I  will  be  with  thy  mouth,  and  teach  thee 
what  to  say  ' "  Moses'  pleadings  and  reasonings  having 
all  thus  faix^d,  he  now  began  to  supplicate  that  the  com- 
mission might  be  transferred  to  another,  saying,  "  0  my 
Lord,  send,  I  pray  thee,  by  the  hand  of  him  whom  thou 
wilt  send." 

The  patience  of  God  with  Moses  had  hitherto  been 
wonderful ;  but  now,  the  anger  of  the  Lord  was  kindled 
against  him ;  and  he  said,  "  Is  not  Aaron,  the  Levite,  thy 
brother  ?  I  know  that  he  can  speak  well.  And  also,  be- 
hold he  cometh  forth  to  meet  thee  ;  and  when  he  seeth  thee 
he  will  be  glad  in  his  heart.  And  thou  shalt  speak  unto 
him  and  put  words  in  his  mouth ;  and  I  will  be  with  thy 
mouth,  and  will  teach  you  what  you  shall  do.  And  he 
shall  be  thy  spokesman  unto  the  people ;  and  he  shall  be 
unto  thee  instead  of  a  mouth,  and  thou  shalt  be  unto  him 
instead  of  God.  And  thou  shalt  take  this  rod  in  thine 
hand,  wherewith  thou  shalt  do  signs." 

Thus  divinely  commissioned,  Moses  took  leave  of  his 
father-in-law,  Jethro,  and  went  immediately  on  his  way  to 
Egypt;  but  before  he  reached  that  country  his  brother 
Aaron  met  him,  and  accompanied  him  thither.  Having 
entered  Egypt,  they  at  once  gathered  the  elders  of  the 
children  of  Israel  together;  and,  after  having  communi- 
cated the  message  which  God  had  sent  to  them,  they,  in 
confirmation  of  their  commission,  exhibited  the  miracles 
which  Moses  nad  been  directed  to  perform.  "And  the 
people  believed ;  and  when  they  heard  that  the  Lord  had 
visited  the  children  of  Israel,  and  that  he  had  looked 
upon  their  aflSictions  then  they  bowed  their  heads  and 
worshipped." 

Moses  and  Aaron  next  presented  themselves  before 
Pharaoh,  taking  with  them  the  wonder-working  rod,  that 
they  might  exhibit  before  the  king  the  miraculous  power 


54  THE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

with  which  they  had  been  endowed.  God  had  instructed 
them  to  say  to  Pharaoh,  "  Israel  is  my  son,  even  my  first- 
born ;  let  my  son  go,  that  he  may  serve  me  ;  and  behold, 
if  thou  refuse  to  let  him  go,  I  will  slay  thy  son,  even  thy 
first-born."  This  communication  seems  to  have  both  sur- 
prised and  angered  the  king ;  and  he  therefore  replied, 
"  Who  is  the  Lord,  that  I  should  obey  his  voice  to  let 
Israel  go  ?  I  know  not  the  Lord,  nor  will  I  let  Israel 
go."  They  then  informed  the  king  that  the  God  of  the 
Hebrews  had  met  with  them,  and  required  that  the  people 
should  go  out  into  the  wilderness  and  sacrifice  to  him.  To 
this  the  king  replied,  "  They  be  idle,  therefore  they  cry, 
saying,  '  Let  us  go  and  sacrifice  to  our  God.'  Let  more  be 
laid  upon  them,  and  let  them  not  regard  vain  words." 

Perceiving  the  disposition  of  Pharaoh,  and  his  determi- 
nation not  only  to  retain  the  Israelites  in  Egypt,  but  also 
to  increase  their  burthens,  Moses,  under  divine  guidance, 
now  commenced  the  performance  of  a  series  of  miracles  in 
the  king's  presence,  and  the  infliction  of  a  succession  of 
plagues  upon  the  land,  that  had  hitherto  had  no  parallel 
in  the  history  of  the  world.  All  these,  however,  Pharaoh 
resisted,  until,  at  length,  the  contest  between  the  Almighty 
and  the  impious  king  reached  its  crisis.  Moses,  therefore, 
informed  the  people  that,  at  about  midnight,  the  Lord 
would  go  forth  into  the  midst  of  Egypt,  and  would  slay  all 
the  first-born  in  the  land  of  Egypt,  "  from  the  first-born 
of  Pharaoh  on  the  throne,  to  the  first-born  of  the  maid- 
servant that  sitteth  behind  the  mill ;  and  all  the  first-born 
of  beasts  :  but  that  against  the  children  of  Israel  not  a  dog 
should  move  his  tongue — against  man  or  beast."  Accord- 
ingly, at  the  appointed  time,  "  the  liord  smote  all  the  first- 
born of  Egypt ;  and  there  was  a  great  ory  in  Egypt ;  for 
there  was  not  a  house  where  there  was  not  cne  dead." 
This  infliction  of  divine  wrath  had  the  desired  effect ;  and 


THE      LEGISLATOR.  55 

Pharaoh  at  once  gave  orders  that  Moses,  Aaron,  and 
all  the  people  of  Israel  should  depart  from  Egypt.  And 
the  Egyptians  were  urgent  upon  the  people,  that  they 
might  send  them  out  of  the  land  in  haste ;  for,  they  said, 
"We  be  all  dead  men." 

It  was  on  this  awfully  impressive  occasion  that  the 
Jewish  passover  was  instituted,  as  a  memorial  of  the  de- 
liverance of  the  children  of  Israel  from  the  desolating 
plague  which  fell  upon  every  house  of  the  Egyptians.  The 
sign  of  this  deliverance  was  the  sprinkling  of  the  blood  of 
a  lamb  on  the  door-posts  of  the  house  of  each  Hebrew 
family.  This  passover  was  to  be  celebrated  annually,  on 
the  same  day  of  the  month  in  which  it  was  instituted  ;  that 
all  the  Israelites,  by  families,  should  partake  of  it ;  but 
that  no  stranger  should  be  admitted,  until  all  his  males 
were  circumcised.  They  were  also  directed,  should  their 
children  inquire,  after  they  were  settled  in  the  land  of 
Canaan,  "What  mean  you  by  this  service?"  to  say  to 
them,  "  This  is  the  sacrifice  of  the  Lord's  passover,  who 
passed  over  the  houses  of  the  children  of  Israel  in  Egypt, 
when  he  smote  the  Egyptians  and  delivered  our  houses." 

The  Israelites,  in  1491  A.  C,  having  left  Rameses,  in 
Goshen,  marched  to  Succoth,  and  there,  for  the  first  time, 
stretched  their  booths.  The  number  of  men  at  this  time 
in  the  camp,  capable  of  bearing  arms,  was  six  hundred 
thousand  ;  and  if  to  these  be  added  the  women  and  chil- 
dren, the  whole  number  of  souls  that  escaped  from  Egypt 
must  have  exceeded  three  millions.  Moses  here  remarks 
that  the  sojourning  of  the  children  of  Israel  had  been  four 
hundred  and  thirty  years;  but  this,  it  must  be  remembered, 
included  the  whole  period  that  elapsed  from  the  calling  of 
Abraham  to  the  time  when  the  Israelites  finally  left  Egypt. 
The  four  hundred  years  of  their  bondage,  so  often  men- 
tioned in  the  Scriptures,  commences  with  the  birth  of  Isaacv 


56  THE     AMCIENT      HEBREWS. 

1892  A.  C. ;  and  the  time  during  which  the  people  actually 
dwelt  in  Egypt,  was  from  1702  A.  C.  till  1491  A.  C,  two 
hundred  and  eleven  years.  From  Succoth  the  Israelites 
marched  to  Etham,  on  the  borders  of  the  wilderness  ;  and 
thence  they  went  southward  to  the  Ked  Sea — God  gra- 
ciously preceding  the  camp  in  a  pillar  of  fire  by  night,  and 
a  pillar  of  cloud  by  day. 

In  the  mean  time,  Pharaoh  and  his  people,  ha\ing  recov  - 
ered  from  the  consternation  into  which  the  death  of  their 
first-born  had  thrown  them,  resolved  to  pursue  the  fugi- 
tives, and  force  them  back  again  into  bondage ;  and  when 
the  Israelites  saw  that  the  Egyptians  were  pursuing  them, 
they  became  greatly  alarmed,  and,  in  their  fear,  cried  unto 
the  Lord.  But  Moses,  in  the  fullness  of  his  faith,  said 
unto  the  people,  "Fear  ye  not,  stand  still,  and  see  the 
salvation  of  the  Lord,  which  he  will  show  you  to-day;  for 
the  Egyptians,  whom  ye  have  seen  to-day,  ye  shall  see 
them  again  no  more  forever.  The  Lord  shall  figlit  for 
you,  and  ye  shall  hold  your  peace."  '-And  the  Lord  said 
unto  Moses,  '  Wherefore  criest  thou  unto  me  |  Speak 
unto  the  children  of  Israel,  that  they  go  forward.  But 
lift  up  thy  rod  and  stretch  out  thy  hand  over  the  sea, 
and  divide  it,  and  the  children  of  Israel  shall  go  on  dry 
land  through  the  midst  of  the  sea.  And  I,  behold  I,  will 
harden  the  hearts  of  the  Egyptians,  and  they  shall  follow 
them,  and  I  will  get  me  honor  on  Pharaoh,  and  upon  his 
host,  and  upon  his  chariots,  and  upon  his  horsemen.'  " 

Moses,  in  accordance  with  the  divine  command,  stretch 
ed  forth  his  rod,  and  the  sea  immediately  divided  and  left 
a  pathway  through  which  the  Israelites  passed  on  dry  land ; 
but  when  the  Egyptians  attempted  to  follow  them,  the 
waters  returned  to  their  bed,  and  the  whole  Egyptian  host 
was  immediately  overwhelmed  and  perished.  "  Thus  the 
Lord  saved  Israel  that  day  out  of  the  hands  of  the  Egyp- 


THE      LEGISLATOR.  O^ 

tians  ;  and  Israel  saw  the  Egyptians  dead  on  the  sea-shore ; 
and  the  people  feared  the  Lord,  and  believed  the  Lord  and 
his  servant  Moses." 

It  was  on  this  occasion  that  Moses  composed  the  cele- 
brated ode,  or  Song  of  Triumj)h,  found  in  the  first  twenty- 
one  verses  of  the  fifteenth  chapter  of  Exodus.  This  is 
the  earliest  poem  of  which  we  have  any  knowledge  ;  and 
it  abounds  with  those  sublime  and  lofty  expressions  which 
so  important  an  occasion  would  naturally  elicit.  "  And 
Miriam,  the  prophetess,  the  sister  of  Aaron,  took  a  timbrel 
in  her  hand,  and  all  the  women  went  out  after  her  with 
timbrels  and  with  dances.  And  they  sang  the  song  which 
Moses  had  composed,  and  accompanied  it  with  their  in- 
struments." 


SECTION    II, 


Moses  : — The  Wilderness  of  Sin — Distress  for  Want  of  Water — Mauua 
given  them  for  Bread  — The  Sabbath  — The  PiUar  of  Cloud  — The 
Rock  of  Horeb — The  Victory  over  the  Amalekites — Vicinity  of  Mount 
Sinai — Visit  of  Jethro— His  Reception — Advises  the  Appointment  of 
Assistant  Judges. 

The  Israelites,  being  thus  delivered  from  their  cruel 
oppressors,  immediately  commenced  their  journey  through 
the  wilderness  of  Shur,  which  lay  adjacent  to  that  part  of 
the  Arabian  coast  of  the  sea  through  which  they  had  just 
miraculously  passed.  But  during  the  first  three  days  of 
their  journeyings  in  this  barren  and  sterile  land,  they  found 
no  water ;  and  forgetting,  in  their  distress,  all  the  recent 
interpositions  of  God  in  their  favor,  they  begaji  to  murmur 
against  Moses,  and  to  cry  out,  "AVhat  shall  we  drink  f 
At  length,  however,  they  discovered  a  pool  near  the  camp; 
but  when  they  came  to  taste  the  water,  they  found  it  bit- 
ter, and  hence  they  bestowed  upon  the  place  the  name  of 


58  THE     ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

Marah.  To  sweeten  this  water^  and  to  render  it  palatable, 
God  directed  Moses  to  cast  into  the  pool  the  branches  of 
a  tree  which  grew  adjacent  to  it;  and  the  thirst  of  the 
people  being  now  allayed,  they  left  Marah  and  marched 
to  Elira,  where,  finding  twelve  wells  of  water  and  many 
palm-trees,  they  rested  for  a  number  of  days. 

Having  remained  at  Elim  until  the  fifteenth  day  of  the 
second  month  after  their  departure  from  Egypt,  the  Israel- 
ites left  that  place  and  commenced  their  march  through 
the  wilderness  of  Sin  towards  Mount  Sinai.  While  rest- 
ing in  the  midst  of  this  wilderness,  the  provisions  which 
they  had  brought  with  them  out  of  Egypt  became  ex- 
hausted; and  as  they  began  to  be  in  want,  they  murmured 
against  Moses,  and  even  reproached  him  for  having  brought 
them  away  from  the  flesh-pots  of  Egypt.  Under  these 
trying  circumstances,  Moses  had  recourse  to  the  Almighty 
for  deliverance  ;  and  it  was  on  this  occasion  that  that 
miraculous  supply  of  manna  from  Heaven  commenced,  by 
which  they  were  daily  sustained  during  the  whole  of  their 
forty  years  sojourn  in  the  wilderness.  This  manna  was 
white,  and,  in  appearance,  like  coriander  seed ;  and  its 
taste  was  like  that  of  wafers  made  of  honey.  In  impart- 
ing this  food,  in  answer  to  the  prayer  of  Moses,  the  Lord 
said,  "  I  will  rain  bread  from  Heaven  for  you,  and  the 
people  shall  go  out  and  gather  a  certain  rate  every  day ; 
that  I  may  prove  them  whether  they  will  walk  in  my  law 
or  not.  And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  on  the  sixth  day,  that 
they  shall  prepare  that  which  they  bring  in,  and  it  shall  be 
twice  as  much  as  tliey  gather  daily." 

In  tliis  passage,  we  have  the  first  direct  intimation 
found  in  the  Scripture,  of  the  observance  of  the  Sabbath, 
after  its  institution  ;  and  as  there  was  nothing  in  the  circum- 
stances of  the  people  at  that  time,  which  can  be  assigned 
as  a  reason  for  setting  apart  the  seventh  day  of  the  week 


THELEGISLATOK.  59 

as  a  day  of  rest,  the  inference  is  irresistible,  that  the 
observance  of  the  Sabbath  was  a  matter  with  which  the 
Israelites  were  already  entirely  familiar.  To  add  to  the 
impressiveness  of  this  occasion,  and  to  overawe  the  peo- 
ple and  reprove  them  for  their  wicked  murmiirings.  The 
Gloi-i/  of  the  Lord  appeared  in  the  midst  of  the  pillar  of 
cloud  that  overhung  the  camp.  This  "Glory  of  the  Lord'' 
was,  probably,  nothing  less  than  a  \-isible  manifestation 
of  our  blessed  Saviour,  the  Son  of  God. 

LeaWng  the  wilderness  of  Sin,  the  Israelites  journeyed 
toward  Mount  Sinai ;  but  when  they  arrived  at  Rephidim, 
in  the  vicinity  of  Mount  Horeb,  one  of  the  elevations  of 
the  Sinai  range,  they  were  again  greatly  distressed  for 
want  of  water ;  and  on  this  occasion,  in  their  wicked  mur- 
raurings  they  went  so  far  as  to  express  a  distrust  in  God's 
precious  promise  of  care  and  protection,  and  impiously 
to  taunt  Moses  with  the  significant  inquiry,  '•  Is  the  Lord 
among  us  or  not  ?"  Moses,  in  this  emergency,  as  in  all 
tlie  trying  circumstances  under  which  the  repeated  rebel- 
lions of  the  people  so  often  placed  him,  had  immediate 
recourse  to  the  Lord,  and  crying  unto  him,  said,  -  TVhat 
shall  I  do  unto  this  people  ?  They  be  almost  ready  to 
stone  me."  God,  in  reply  to  the  earnest  entreaty  of  his 
faithful  servant,  directed  him  to  take  ^^•ith  him  the  elders 
of  Israel,  and  go  and  stand  on  the  rock  of  Horeb,  and 
smite  the  rock  with  the  rod  with  which  he  had  smitten  the 
river  of  Egypt  when  its  waters  were  turned  into  blood. 
Moses,  in  accordance  with  this  direction,  smote  the  rock 
Avith  his  rod,  and  the  waters  gushing  forth  from  several 
points  at  once,  united  in  a  stream  below,  and  tlowed  down 
into  the  camp  at  Rephidim.  The  people  being  thus 
miraculously  supplied  with  wat^r,  their  rage  against  Mo- 
ses ceased ;  but  to  preserve  the  i-emembrance  of  their 
wicked  mutiny  and  distrust  of  God,  the  place  was  thenco 


60  THE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

forth  called  Massah  and  Merihah,  the  former  of  which 
signifies  temptation,  and  the  latter  chiding. 

Soon  after  this  miraculous  display  of  divine  power,  and 
wliile  the  Israelites  were  still  encamped  at  Kephidim,  they 
were  thrown  into  the  greatest  consternation  by  the  sud- 
den and  unexpected  approach  of  an  army  of  Amalekites, 
These  Amalekites  afterwards  inhabited  the  southern  part 
of  the  land  of  Canaan,  but  where  they  at  this  time  dwell 
is  uncertain.  After  brief  reflection,  Moses  ordered  Joshua, 
w^ho  was  thenceforth  his  constant  attendant,  but  who  is  here 
mentioned  for  the  first  time,  to  draw  out  a  party  of  the 
choicest  men  in  the  camp,  and  early  in  the  following 
morning  to  give  the  enemy  battle.  Joshua  did  as  Moses 
commanded  him  ;  and  in  order  to  witness  the  conflict, 
Moses,  accompanied  by  Aaron  and  Hur,  ascended  a  neigh- 
boring eminence.  Directed  by  the  Almighty,  Moses  took 
with  him  his  rod,  and,  during  the  battle,  so  long  as  he  held 
it  up,  the  Israelites  prevailed ;  but  when,  through  weari- 
ness, bis  strength  to  keep  the  rod  elevated  began  to  fail, 
the  Amalekites  had  the  advantage.  Aaron  and  Hur,  per- 
ceiving this,  seated  Moses  upon  a  stone,  and  placing  them- 
selves upon  either  side  of  him,  supported  his  hands,  in 
one  of  which  was  held  the  rod,  while  the  other  was  uj)- 
raised  in  supplication  to  God.  In  this  posture  Moses  was 
sustained  until  the  going  down  of  the  sun,  by  which  time 
the  Amalekites  were  completely  routed,  and  all  of  them 
put  to  the  sword. 

The  Israelites  were  greatly  encouraged  by  this  signal 
success  in  their  first  martial  enterprise  ;  and  that  the 
remembrance  of  so  remarkable  an  action  might  be  pre- 
served, God  commanded  Moses  to  make  a  record  of  it, 
that  Joshua,  the  general,  might  thereby  be  animated  in 
his  future  services,  and  be  led  to  trust,  in  all  his  conflicts 
with  the  enemies  of  Israel,  alone  in  the  same  Almighty 


THE      LEGISLATOR.  gj 

arm  through  whose  aid  he  had  gained  this  important  vic- 
tory. As  a  memorial  of  this  great  triumph,  Moses  erected 
an  altar  on  the  spot,  and  offered  sacrifices  of  burnt-offer- 
ings and  peace-offerings  to  the  Lord— calling  it  Jehovah 
Mssi,  which  signifies  The  Lord  is  my  Banner—^  fit  device 
to  be  inscribed  on  the  standard  of  Joshua,  who  was  thence- 
forth to  be  the  instrument  of  the  Almighty  in  overcoming 
and  dispersing  all  those  nations  that  should  oppose  the 
settlement  of  the  Israelites  in  the  land  of  Canaan. 

Soon  after  tlie  defeat  of  the  Amalekites,  the  Israelites 
left  Eephidim  and  proceeded  towards  Mount  Sinai,  where 
God  first  appeared  to  Moses  in  the  burning  bush,  and  near 
to  which  Jethro,  the  father-in-law  of  Moses,  resided.    Jethro, 
having  already  received  partial  intelligence  of  the  wonder- 
ful displays  of  Divine  power  in  favor  of  Moses  and  the 
people  of  Israel,  and  learning  that  they  were  now  in  the 
vicinity  of  his  own  abode,  took  his  daughter  Zipporah,  the 
wife  of  Moses,  and  her  two  sons,  Gershom  and  Eliezer, 
and  with    them   repaired   to   the   Israelites'   camp.      His 
reception  was  of  the  most  gratifying  character ;  and  after 
mutual  salutations  and  embraces,  Moses  gave  him  a  par- 
ticular account  of  everything  that  had  occurred  during  his 
absence.      With   the  narrative  of  Moses,  Jethro  was  so 
deeply  affected,  that  at  its  close  he  exclaimed,  "  Blessed 
be  the  Lord,  who  hath  delivered  you  out  of  the  hand  of 
the  Egyptians,  and    out  of  the  hand   of  Pharaoh  ;   who 
hath  delivered  thQ  people  from  under  the  hand  of  the 
Egyptians.     Now  I  know  that  Jehovah  is  greater  than  all 
gods  ;  for  in  the  thing  wherein  they  dealt  proudly,  he  was 
above  them."     This  interesting  inter\iew  between  Moses 
and  Jethro  was  closed  by  a  pubHc  sacrifice  of  thanksgiving 
to  God,  which  was  followed  by  great  festive  rejoicings. 

Jethro  had  been  but  a  short  time  in  the  camp  of  Israel, 
before  his  attention  was  attracted  to  the  pressure  of  busi- 


62  THE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

ness  which  the  hearing  of  the  complaints,  and  the  deter- 
mining of  the  differences  of  so  great  a  body  of  people, 
imposed  upon  Moses  ;  and,  therefore,  being  himself  a  man 
of  wisdom  and  experience,  he  advised  him  to  appoint  cer- 
tain subordinate  officers,  who  should  be  properly  qualified 
for  their  respective  positions — men  of  sincerity  and  ability, 
such  as  feared  God  and  hated  covetousness — to  be  rulers ; 
some  over  thousands,  some  over  hundreds,  some  over  fifties, 
and  some  over  tens ;  whose  province  it  should  be  to  hear 
and  determine  all  trifling  disputes  among  the  people,  but 
to  refer  the  greater  and  more  weighty  matters  to  himself, 
as  their  chief  ruler.  This  salutary  advice  of  Jethro,  being 
highly  approved  by  Moses,  he  immediately  put  it  into 
practice,  and  soon  found  it  attended  with  the  happiest 
results.  Jethro  soon  after  took  his  departure,  and  the 
Israelites  moved  on  towards  Mount  Sinai,  and  encamped 
in  the  wilderness  at  its  base. 


SECTION    III. 


Moses  : — Messagre  of  God  from  Mount  Sinai — Its  Reception— Moses 
ascends  the  Mount,  and  receives  the  Decalogue,  or  Ten  Command- 
ments— Receives  other  Laws  also,  and  Directions  for  building  the 
Tabernacle — The  Consequences  of  his  Long  Absence — The  Worship 
ing  of  the  Golden  Calf— The  Indignation  of  Moses,  and  the  Punish- 
ment inflicted — The  Tabernacle  and  its  Utensils  consecrated — Death 
of  Nadab  and  Abihu. 

Three  months  had  now  elapsed  since  the  Israelites  left 
Egypt ;  and  the  Almighty  immediately  summoned  Moses 
to  come  up  to  him  in  the  Mount,  and  charged  him  to  de- 
liver at  once  to  the  children  of  Israel  the  follo\ving  mes- 
sage :  "  Ye  have  seen  what  I  did  unto  the  Egyptians,  and 
how  I  bare  you  on  eagles'  wings,  and  brought  you  unto 
myself.  Now,  therefore,  if  ye  will  obey  my  voice  indeed, 
and  keep  my  covenant,  tlien  ye  shall  be  a  peculiar  treasure 


^  TIIELEGISLATOE.  63 

nnto  me  above  all  people ;  for  all  the  earth  is  mhie :  and 
ye  shall  be  unto  me  a  kingdom  of  priests,  and  an  holy 
nation."  Moses,  having  descended  from  the  Mount, 
called  the  elders  and  the  people  of  Israel  together,  and 
communicated  to  them  the  message  of  the  Lord ;  which 
they  no  sooner  heard  than  they  at  once  exclaimed,  "  All 
that  the  Lord  hath  spoken  we  will  do."  We  shall  see  in 
the  sequel,  however,  how  little  regardful  they  were  of  this 
solemn  promise. 

The  Almighty  next  commanded  Moses  to  direct  the 
l^eople  to  cleanse  and  purify  themselves  for  two  days,  as, 
on  the  third  day,  he  should  come  down  upon  the  moun- 
tain and  make  a  covenant  with  them.  He  likewise  strictly 
charged  him  to  set  boundaries  about  the  foot  of  the  mount, 
which  none  should  presume  to  pass  under  the  penalty  of 
death.  These  orders  were  strictly  observed,  and  every 
preparation  made  in  conformity  to  the  Divine  command. 
On  the  third  day,  early  in  the  morning,  the  people  having 
approached  the  mountain,  saw  it  covered  with  a  thick 
cloud,  out  of  which  proceeded  such  dreadful  peals  of 
thunder,  and  such  dazzling  flashes  of  lightning,  as  filled 
them  with  the  utmost  terror.  In  the  midst  of  this  awful 
scene,  the  trumpet  was  heard  to  sound  louder  and  louder, 
and  the  noise  of  thunder  and  the  flashes  of  lightning  became 
more  frequent  and  violent.  Suddenly,  however,  the  most 
solemn  silence  prevailed  ;  and,  after  a  brief  pause,  the 
Almighty,  from  the  midst  of  the  fire  and  smoke,  pro- 
nounced, in  the  hearing  of  all  Israel,  the  Decalogue,  or 
Ten  Commandments.  These  commandments  were  soon 
after  inscribed  by  God  himself  upon  two  tables  of  stone, 
and  delivered  to  Moses  to  be  preserved  as  the  basis  of  all 
moral  law. 

While  Moses  was  in  the  midst  of  the  mountain,  in  inter- 
course with  the  Almighty,  he  received,  in  addition  to  the 


64  THE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

Decalogue,  many  other  laws,  botli  ceremonial  and  politi- 
cal, the  design  of  the  whole  of  which  was  to  preserve  the 
people  in  their  obedience  to  God ;  to  prevent  them  from 
intermixing  with  other  nations,  and  to  advance  their  gene- 
ral welfare,  by  securing  to  each  individual  the  quiet  enjoy- 
ment of  his  life  and  property.  These  laws  Moses  imme- 
diately communicated  to  the  people,  after  which  he  oftere-l 
sacrifices  to  God,  and  caused  twelve  pillars  to  be  raised 
near  the  altar,  to  represent  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel. 
He  then  led  Aaron,  Nadab,  and  Abihu,  with  seventy 
elders,  beyond  the  camp,  and  nearer  to  the  mountain,  the 
base  of  which  they  had  no  sooner  reached  than  an  indica- 
tion of  the  Divine  Presence  was  manifested  to  them. 
Here,  having  first  committed  to  their  charge  the  care  of 
the  people,  he  left  the  elders,  and,  accompanied  by  Joshua 
only,  approached  still  nearer  to  the  mountain-peak.  Alone 
ascending  to  its  very  summit,  Moses  soon  found  himself 
enveloped  in  a  thick  cloud,  from  which 'the  glory  of  the 
Lord  shone  forth  like  a  devouring  fire. 

In  the  midst  of  the  cloud,  and  in  audience  with  the 
Deity,  Moses  remained  for  forty  days,  during  which  he 
received  from  God,  besides  many  other  instructions,  specific 
directions  for  the  building  of  the  Tabernacle,  wherein  di- 
vine worship  should  be  performed.  These  instructions 
embraced  a  description  of  the  form  of  the  sanctuary,  the 
table  of  shew-bread,  the  altar  of  frankincense,  the  altar 
of  burnt-offerings,  the  court  of  the  Tabernacle,  the  Basin, 
the  Ark,  the  Candlestick  ;  and  all  the  other  sacred  uten- 
sils. They  included  also  directions  for  the  form  of  the 
sacerdotal  vestments,  and  the  manner  in  which  the  priests 
were  to  be  consecrated — what  part  of  the  oblation  was  to 
be  taken,  and  how  the  perpetual  sacrifice  was  to  be  offered. 
The  two  principal  men  to  be  employed  in  the  building  of 
the  Talxirnacle,  were,  Bezaleel,  of  the  tribe  of  Judah,  and 


THE     LEGISLATOR.  65 

A-holiab,  of  the  tribe  of  Dan.  IIa\dng  completed  these  in- 
structions, and  enjoined  a  strict  observance  of  the  Sabbath, 
the  Almighty  gave  to  Moses  the  two  tables,  on  which  were 
written  the  Ten  great  Commandments  to  which  we  have 
already  alluded. 

But  the  long  absence  of  Moses  from  the  camp,  was 
attended  with  consequences  which  he  had  little  antici- 
pated. The  people,  supposing  that  he  had  been  destroyed, 
assembled  in  a  riotous  manner  about  Aaron's  tent,  and 
demanded  of  him  new  gods  to  go  before  them.  Extraor- 
dinary as  this  demand  was,  yet  such  was  the  weakness  of 
Aaron  that,  instead  of  expostulating  with  the  people,  and 
rebuking  their  sin,  he  tamely  complied  with  their  request, 
and  even  contributed  to  their  idolatry.  He  induced  them 
to  collect  all  the  golden  ear-rings  of  their  wives  and  chil- 
dren, and  these  he  constructed  into  a  molten  calf,  in  imita- 
tion of  the  god  Apis,  of  the  Egyptians.  When  the  thought- 
less Israelites  saw  this  image,  they,  were  so  well  pleased, 
that  they,  with  one  voice,  exclaimed,  "  This  is  thy  God,  0 
Israel,  that  brought  thee  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt ;"  and 
when  Aaron  witnessed  the  satisfaction  with  which  the  peo- 
ple received  this  golden  god,  he  built  an  altar  before  it, 
and  proclaimed  a  solemn  feast  to  be  held  on  the  following 
day.  But  it  proved  rather  a  feast  of  luxurious  revellings, 
than  one  prompted  by  religious  motives ;  for,  after  they 
had  presented  their  oblations  and  peace-offerings,  they 
turned  to  feasting,  dancing,  and  other  riotous  indul- 
gences. 

The  omniscient  eye  of  the  Almighty  no  sooner  beheld 
these  wicked  and  idolatrous  proceedings  in  the  camp  of 
Israel,  than  his  wrath  w^as  so  highly  kindled  against  them, 
that  he  at  once  resolved  to  destroy  the  whole  race ;  and 
hence  he  said  to  Moses,  "  Go,  get  thee  down,  for  thy  peo- 
ple, whom  thou  broughtest  out  of  Egypt,  have  corrupted 


66  THE     ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

themselves.  I  know  them  to  be  an  obstinate  people,  there- 
fore intercede  not  for  them,  but  see  me  express  my  resent- 
ment in  their  destruction ;  and  to  thee  will  I  transfer  the 
blessings  I  intended  for  them,  and  of  thee  will  I  make  a 
great  nation."  Alarmed  at  the  prospective  overthrow  of 
his  beloved  people,  Moses  at  once  prostrated  himself  before 
the  Lord  ;  and,  though  conscious  of  their  great  wicked- 
ness, yet  so  sincere  and  fervent  were  his  prayers  and 
intercessions  on  their  behalf,  that  the  Almighty  was 
pleased,  for  his  sake,  to  mitigate  the  severity  of  their 
punishment. 

When,  however,  Moses  had  descended  from  the  moun- 
tain, and  a.pproached  the  camp,  he  saw  the  golden  calf, 
and  the  people  dancing  before  it ;  and  so  greatly  was  his 
own  indignation  enkindled  at  the  sight,  that  he  immediately 
cast  the  tables  of  stone,  which  he  bore  in  his  hands,  upon 
the  ground,  and  broke  them  into  pieces ;  he  then  caused 
the  calf  to  be  ground  to  powder,  and  mixing  the  dust 
with  water,  compelled  the  people  to  drink  it.  He  also 
upbraided  Aaron,  with  the  utmost  severity,  for  the  part 
he  had  taken  in  this  wicked  rebellion;  and  then,  advancing 
into  the  midst  of  the  camp,  he  directed  the  sons  of  Levi, 
none  of  whom  had  been  concerned  in  the  revolt,  to  go 
through  the  camp  and  slay  all  the  ringleaders  of  this 
idolatrous  defection,  without  respect  to  age  or  quality, 
friendship  or  consanguinity.  The  Levites  strictly  obeyed 
the  orders  of  Moses,  and  the  number  slain  on  that  day 
was  about  three  thousand. 

This  severe  punishment  spread  terror  through  the  whole 
camp ;  and  on  the  following  day  Moses,  in  the  most  solemn 
manner,  reminded  the  people  of  their  ingratitude  and  folly, 
but  at  length  promised  that  he  would  go  again  up  into  the 
mountain,  and  if  possible,  by  his  intercessions,  avert  such 
farther  punishment  as  they  might  still  deserve.     Moses, 


THE      LEGISLATOR.  67 

in  accordance  with  this  promise,  returned  to  the  mount, 
acknowledged  before  the  Lord  the  great  sin  of  the  people, 
and  through  the  earnestness  of  his  concern  for  their  pre- 
servation, so  far  obtained  reconciliation  for  them,  that  the 
Lord  was  pleased  graciously  to  promise,  though,  in  conse- 
quence of  their  rebellion,  his  immediate  presence  should  be 
withdrawn  from  them,  yet  he  w^ould  still  send  his  angel  be- 
fore them,  to  drive  out  the  heathen  from  the  promised  land, 
that  he  might  perform  the  oath  which  he  had  made  to  their 
forefathers,  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob.  After  this  com- 
parative reconciliation,  the  Almighty  commanded  Moses 
to  prepare  two  other  tables  of  stone,  like  those  which  he 
had  broken,  and  to  come  up  alone  with  them,  in  the  morn- 
ing, into  the  mount,  "  and  I,"  said  he,  "  will  write  in  those 
tables  the  words  that  were  in  the  first." 

After  again  remaining  forty  days  in  the  mount,  in  com- 
munion with  the  Deity,  Moses  descended,  bringing  with 
him  the  two  tables  of  the  law ;  but  by  the  long  converse 
he  had  now  held  with  God,  his  face  had  acquired  such  a 
lustre  that  the  people  were  not  able  to  approach  him;  and, 
therefore,  whenever  he  addressed  them  he  was  compelled 
to  cover  his  face  with  a  veil.  His  first  and  most  import- 
ant communication  to  the  peojDle  was,  that  it  was  the 
Lord's  will  to  have  a  Tabernacle  built,  for  the  performance 
of  religious  worship ;  and  that  he  had  commanded  him  to 
direct  them  to  bring  in  their  free-will  offerings  for  the 
accomplishing  of  the  work.  These  offerings  were  to  be 
entirely  voluntary,  and  so  desirous  were  the  people  to  make 
some  atonement  for  their  recent  sins,  that  they  soon 
brought  in  more  than  was  requisite ;  insomuch  that  Moses 
was  compelled  to  cause  proclamation  to  be  made  to  restrain 
their  farther  liberality. 

The  Tabernacle  was  divided  into  two  parts — a  large 
open  Court,  and  the  Tabernacle  proper.     The  co  irt  was  a 


68  THE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

hundred  cubits  long  and  fifty  cubits  broad.  It  was  inc-csed 
and  hung  round  to  the  height  of  five  cubits,  with  curtains 
of  fine  twined  linen.  These  curtains  were  suspended  by- 
silver  hooks,  on  fifty-six  pillars  of  brass,  or  of  wood  over- 
laid with  brass,  filleted  with  silver,  and  set  in  large  brass 
sockets.  The  only  entrance  of  this  court  was  from  the 
east,  by  a  hanging  veil  of  blue,  purple,  and  scarlet,  and 
fine  twined  linen  of  needle-work,  twenty  cubits  in  length, 
and  suspended  on  four  pillars.  Here,  under  the  open  sky, 
stood  the  altar  of  burnt-offerings,  and  the  brazen  basin ; 
and  hither  every  clean  Hebrew,  or  proselyte  of  the  cove- 
nant, might  come  with  his  offering. 

At  the  west  end  of  the  court  stood  the  Tabernacle  proper, 
which  was  a  close  tent,  somewhat  in  the  form  of  an  ordi- 
nary dwelling-house.  It  was  thirty  cubits  long,  a  little 
over  ten  cubits  broad,  and  of  the  same  height;  and  was 
reared  with  forty-eight  boards  of  wood,  each  a  cubit  and 
a  half  broad,  and  overlaid  with  gold.  These  boards  were 
set  upright  in  ninety-six  large  sockets  of  silver,  and  were 
supported  behind  by  five  cross-bars  of  wood,  overlaid  with 
gold,  and  fastened  to  the  boards  Avith  golden  rings.  On 
this  frame  was  suspended  a  four-fold  covering.  The  first 
cover  consisted  of  the  curtains  of  fine  twined  linen,  with 
blue,  purple,  and  scarlet,  overlaid  with  figures  of  cherubims 
of  exquisite  workmanship.  Each  curtain  was  twenty-eight 
cubits  long  and  four  cubits  broad,  and  they  were  all  coupled 
together  by  loops  of  blue,  and  hooks  of  gold.  The  second 
covering  consisted  of  eleven  curtains  of  goats'  hair,  coupled 
together  with  hooks  of  brass.  The  third  covering  Avas 
made  of  rams'  skins  dyed  red ;  and  the  fourth,  of  string- 
leather,  or  badger-skins. 

The  entrance  to  the  Tabernacle,  immediately  before 
which  the  brazen  altar  and  the  basin  stood,  embraced  the 
whole  eastern  end.      It  was  overhung  with  a  veil  of  blue, 


THE      LEGISLATOR.  69 

purple,  and  scarlet,  and  fine  twined  linen,  curiously  em- 
broidered, and  suspended  by  golden  hooks,  on  five  pillars 
of  wood,  overlaid  with  gold,  and  set  in  large  sockets  of 
brass.  The  gold  employed  about  the  Tabernacle  amount- 
ed in  value  to  about  seven  hundred  thousand  dollars,  and 
the  silver,  to  not  far  from  seventeen  thousand  five  hundred. 
The  sanctuary  of  the  Tabernacle  was  divided  into  two 
apartments,  the  first  of  which  was  twenty  cubits  long,  and 
was  called  the  Ilohj  place :  into  it  the  priests  only  were  al- 
lowed to  enter.  At  the  inner  extremity  stood  the  golden  can- 
dlestick, the  altar  of  incense^  and  the  table  of  shew-bread ; 
and  here  the  silver  trumpet  and  the  standards  of  weights 
and  measures  were  kept.  Beyond  this  was  another  apart- 
ment, ten  cubits  square,  and  separated  from  it  by  a  veil 
of  blue,  purple,  and  scarlet,  and  fine  twined  linen,  embroi- 
dered with  cherubims  elegantly  wrought,  and  suspended 
by  golden  hooks,  on  five  pillars  of  wood,  overlaid  with 
gold,  and  set  in  sockets  of  silver.  This  apartment  was 
called  the  Iloli/  of  Holies;  and  here,  amidst  profound 
darkness,  were  deposited  the  Ark  of  the  Covenant,  over- 
shadowed by  the  cherubim,  between  which  hovered  the 
Shechinah,  or  Cloud  of  Divine  presence ;  and  here,  also, 
were  the  golden  pot  of  manna,  Aaron's  rod  that  budded, 
and  the  tables  of  the  Law.  None  but  the  high-priest  could 
approach  this  sacred  apartment,  and  he  was  allowed  to 
enter  it  but  once  a  year. 

The  Tabernacle  being  thus,  in  1490  A.  C,  completed,  it 
was  set  up  on  the  first  day  of  the  second  year  after  the 
departure  of  the  Israelites  from  Egypt,  and  was  immedi- 
ately consecrated,  with  all  its  utensils,  and  dedicated  to 
the  sacred  purposes  for  which  it  was  designed.  Aaron 
was  constituted  high-priest,  and  the  priestly  office  was 
settled  upon  his  posterity,  though  the  whole  tribe  of  Levi 
was  devoted   to  the  service  of  the  Tabernacle.     On  the 


70  THE     ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

eighth  day  after  his  appointment  as  high-priest,  Aaron 
offered  before  the  Lord  his  first  burnt-offering;  and  with 
this  pious  expression  the  Almighty  was  so  well  pleased 
that  he  caused  fire  to  descend  from  Heaven  upon  the 
altar,  and  consume  the  victim  in  the  presence  of  the 
whole  congregation. 

The  fire  thus  miraculously  kindled,  was,  by  Divine 
command,  to  be  kept  perpetually  burning,  and  to  be  ex- 
clusively used  in  all  oblations  made  to  the  Almighty. 
But  the  two  oldest  sons  of  Aaron,  Nadab  and  Abihu,  per- 
haps heated  with  wine,  presumed  to  light  their  censers 
with  ordinary  fire,  and  placing  incense  upon  the  altar, 
burned  it,  with  the  strange  fire,  before  the  Lord.  With 
this  irreverent  conduct  God  was  so  greatly  displeased  that 
he  immediately  struck  them  dead  with  lightning ;  and,  to 
strike  the  deeper  terror  into  the  rest  of  the  priestly  order, 
and  to  deter  them  from  any  future  disobedience  of  the 
commands  of  God,  Moses  ordered  the  people  to  take  the 
dead  bodies  from  the  sanctuary,  and  carry  them  out  of 
the  camp  in  the  same  condition  in  which  they  found  them. 
He  likewise  charged  Aaron  and  his  two  surviving  sons, 
Eleazar  and  Ithamar,  not  to  assume  any  external  marks 
of  mourning  for  Nadab  and  Abihu,  but  to  leave  that  to 
the  rest  of  the  people,  from  whom  they  should  be  distin- 
guished in  this,  as  well  as  in  other  respects,  in  conse- 
quence of  that  holy  anointing,  by  which  they  had  been 
consecrated  to  the  Lord,  and  thus  separated  from  their 
brethren. 

This  melancholy  scene  had  scarcely  closed,  before 
another  proof  was  given  of  the  danger  of  incurring  the 
displeasure  of  the  Almighty.  The  son  of  Shelomith,  an 
Israelitish  woman,  whose  husband  was  an  Egyptian  prose- 
lyte, quarreling  with  another  young  Israelite,  had  the  mis- 
fortune to  be  worsted  in  the  contest,  and,  in  the  height  of 


THE     LEGISLATOR.  71 

ilis  passion,  he  cursed  and  blasphemed  the  name  of  the 
Lord  so  violently  that  Moses  caused  him  to  be  appre- 
hended and  placed  in  confinement.  Inquiring  of  the 
Almighty  what  punishment  should  be  inflicted  upon  the 
transgressor,  the  Lord  answered,  "  Bring  forth  him  that 
cursed  without  the  camp,  and  let  all  that  heard  him  lay 
their  hands  upon  his  head,  and  let  all  the  congregation 
stone  him."  In  obedience  to  the  Divine  command,  Moses 
caused  the  sentence  to  be  at  once  executed  ;  and  this 
event  was  the  more  important,  because  it  was  immediately 
followed  by  the  enacting  of  a  law,  that  whosoever,  thence- 
forth, should  blaspheme  the  name  of  the  Lord,  whether  ho 
were  an  Israelite  or  a  stranger,  should  be  stoned  to  deaCh. 


SECTION   IV, 


Moses  : — The  Departure  from  Mount  Sinai — Their  March — Order  ol 
their  Encampments  —  Murmurings  of  the  People  —  Punishment  of 
Fire,— Commission  of  the  Seventy  Elders — Quails  given  to  the  Peo- 
ple for  Food — Ivebellion  of  Aaron  and  Miriam — Its  Punishment — 
Arrival  on  the  Borders  of  Canaan — Report  of  the  ten  Spies — Eeport 
of  Caleb  and  Joshua- -The  People  again  turned  into  the  Wilderness — 
Ivebellion  of  Korah,  Dathan,  nud  Abiram  against  Moses  and  Aaroji— 
Their  Trial  and  Punishment — Aaron's  Rod  placed  in  the  Ark  of  the 
Covenant, 

Every  preparation  being  now  made  for  the  departure 
of  the  Israelites  from  Mount  Sinai,  God  directed  Moses 
and  Aaron,  assisted  by  the  heads  of  the  several  tribes,  to 
take  the  census  of  the  people,  preparatory  to  their  march, 
in  order  to  ascertain  the  number  of  men  in  the  camp  capa- 
ble of  bearing  arms.  The  result  of  this  enumeration,  pre- 
sented six  hundred  and  three  thousand  five  hundred  and 
fifty  true-born  Israelites,  between  the  ages  of  twenty  and 
fifty  years,  exclusive  of  the  tribe  of  Levi,  all  of  whom,  as 
we  ha\e  already  observed,  were  entirely  devoted  to  the 
service  of  the  Tabernacle. 


72  THE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

In  their  encampment,  the  Tabernacle  was  placed  in  the 
centre,  and  at  the  opening  of  the  court,  Moses,  Aaron, 
and  the  Priests,  took  their  positions.  On  the  south  side 
were  placed  the  Kohathites,  or  the  descendants  of  Kohath, 
the  second  son  of  Levi ;  on  the  west,  the  Gershonites,  or 
the  descendants  of  Gershon,  his  eldest  son ;  and  on  the 
north,  the  Merarites,  or  the  descendants  of  Merari,  Levi's 
youngest  son.  Beyond  the  Tabernacle,  the  Priests,  and 
tho  Levites,  were  encamped  the  twelve  tribes,  in  four  grand 
divisions,  under  the  standards  of  Judah,  Eeuben,  Ephraim, 
and  Dan.  The  tribes  of  Judah,  Issachar,  and  Zebulun, 
formed  the  first  division,  and  occupied  the  eastern  side  of 
the  square  of  the  camp.  On  the  south  side  were  stationed 
the  tribes  of  Reuben,  Simeon,  and  Gad ;  on  the  west,  the 
tribes  of  Ephraim,  Manasseh,  and  Benjamin ;  and  on  the 
north,  those  of  Dan,  Naphtali,  and  Asher. 

The  pillar  of  cloud,  which  was  to  be  their  guide,  both 
by  day  and  by  night,  usually  rested  upon  the  Tabernacle ; 
and  whenever  they  v.ere  to  commence  their  march,  it 
removed  to  the  eastern  part  of  the  camp.  On  such  occa- 
sions, the  trumpet  was  immediately  sounded,  and  upon 
the  first  signal  thus  given,  the  standard  of  Judah  was 
raised,  and  the  tribes  that  belonged  to  it  started  forward. 
The  Tabernacle  was  then  hastily  taken  down,  and  the 
Gershonites  and  Merarites  took  charge  of  the  wagons  into 
which  the  boards  and  the  staves  which  belonged  to  it  were 
placed.  This  being  done,  the  trumpet  sounded  a  second 
alarm,  when  the  standard  of  Reuben's  camp  advanced,  with 
the  three  tribes  that  belonged  to  it.  These  were  followed 
by  the  Kohathites,  who  bore  the  sanctuary  upon  their 
shoulders.  The  standard  of  Ephraim' s  camp,  with  the 
tribes  that  belonged  to  it,  next  moved ;  and  the  remaining 
three  tribes,  under  the  standard  of  Dan,  brought  up  the 
rear. 


THE     LEGISLATOR.  73 

The  Israelites  being  now  ready  to  commence  their  march, 
Moses  addressed  himself  to  God,  and  said,  "  Eise,  Lord,  and 
let  thine  enemies  be  scattered,  and  let  them  that  hate  thee 
flee  before  thee ;"  and  when  the  Ark  of  the  Covenant  rested, 
he  would  add,  "  Eeturn,  0  Lord,  with  the  many  thousands 
of  Israel." 

The  jealous  care  which  the  Almighty  had  hitherto  shown 
towards  the  Israelites — working  wonders  for  their  deliver- 
ance from  the  bondage  of  Egypt — miraculously  supplying 
their  wants  in  the  desert — rewarding  them  when  they  were 
faithful  and  obedient  to  his  commands,  and  inflicting  the 
most  exemplary  punishments  upon  them  when  they  disre- 
garded his  precepts — he  had  a  right  to  expect,  would  leave 
lessons  upon  their  minds,  not  soon  to  be  forgotten.  They 
were,  however,  emphatically,  a  rebellious  and  stitf-necked 
race ;  and  hence,  they  had  marched  but  three  days  from 
their  encampment  at  Sinai,  before  they  began  to  complain 
of  the  fatigues  of  their  journey,  and  to  express  their  griev- 
ances to  Moses  with  the  utmost  asperity.  At  this  wicked 
conduct,  God  was  so  highly  offended,  that  he  caused  a  fire 
from  Heaven  to  descend  upon  them,  which  destroyed  all 
those  who  occupied  the  extreme  parts  of  the  camp,  as  the 
most  deeply  implicated  in  the  offense.  This  signal  pun- 
ishment so  terrified  those  that  escaped,  that  they  immedi- 
ately desired  Moses  to  intercede  with  the  Almighty  that 
the  fire  might  be  stayed. 

The  dissatisfied  Israelites  were,  however,  no  sooner 
relieved  from  the  fear  of  the  consuming  fire,  than  they 
began  to  murmur  for  the  want  of  flesh  for  food;  intimating 
to  Moses  that,  though  in  a  state  of  bondage  in  Egypt,  they 
were  still  much  happier  than  they  had  been  since  they  left 
that  country.  Moses  had  often  heard  their  murmurings 
before,  and  had  patiently  borne  with  them  ;  but  their 
numbers  had  now  so  greatly  increased,  that  liis  fear  lest 


74  THE     ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

he  should  not  continue  to  be  able  to  govern  them,  became 
a  source  of  great  anxiety ;  and  he  therefore  sought  coun- 
sel and  additional  aid  from  the  Almighty.  God  no  sooner 
heard  his  request,  than  he  directed  him  to  select  seventy 
men  from  among  the  Elders  of  Israel,  and  to  bring  them 
with  him  to  the  Tabernacle  of  the  Congregation.  "  There," 
said  he,  "  I  will  come  down  and  talk  with  thee,  and  I  will 
give  them  a  portion  of  the  same  spirit  with  which  I  have 
inspired  thee ;  and  they  shall  bear  the  burthen  of  the  peo- 
ple with  thee."  In  conformity  to  the  Divine  command, 
Moses  selected  seventy  of  the  elders,  sixty-eight  of  whom 
he  conducted  to  the  Tabernacle ;  and  they  had  no  sooner 
reached  that  sacred  place,  than  the  promise  of  the  Al 
mighty  was  fulfilled,  embracing  even  Eldad  and  Medad, 
the  two  elders  who  did  not  accompany  Moses.  This 
power  of  prophecying,  thus  miraculously  communicated 
to  these  elders,  so  greatly  surprised  Joshua  that,  thinking 
it  an  assumption  on  their  part,  of  a  prerogative  of  his 
master,  he  immediately  hastened  to  the  Tabernacle,  and 
advised  Moses  to  restrain  them.  But  Moses,  so  far  from 
following  this  advice,  meekly  replied,  "Would  to  God  that 
all  the  Lord's  people  were  thus  inspired." 

The  desires  of  the  people  for  flesh  to  eat,  not  yet  being 
satisfied,  their  murmurings  at  length  rose  to  such  a  height, 
that  they,  in  the  most  tumultuous  manner,  surrounded  the 
tent  of  Moses,  and  demanded  an  immediate  relief  of  their 
necessities.  Moses,  in  this  emergency,  as  on  all  other 
trying  occasions,  had  instant  recourse  to  the  Most  High ; 
and  intimating,  in  his  petition,  the  little  probability  there 
was  of  supplying  so  great  a  multitude  with  flesh  for  food, 
the  Almighty  was  pleased  graciously  to  promise,  that  he 
would  himself  remove  the  diflBculty ;  and  at  the  same  time 
gently  rebuked  Moses  in  the  following  terms :  "  Is  the 
Lord's  hand  waxecl  shoit ?     Thoi;  shalt  s<?e  now  whether 


Til  E      LEG  I  SLA  TOR.  75 

my  word  shall  come  to  pass  unto  tliee  or  not."  Accord- 
ing to  this  promise,  the  Almighty,  soon  after,  caused  a 
south  wind  to  arise,  which  drove  such  quantities  of  quails 
from  the  sea-coast  into  the  camp,  that  the  people  feasted 
upon  them  for  a  whole  month.  But  God  soon  called  them 
to  a  dreadful  account  for  their  insolent  demand  for  flesh, 
and  their  distrust  of  his  providence  ;  for  while  they  were 
still  regaling  themselves  with  their  dainty  food,  he  visited 
them  with  so  severe  a  plague,  that  great  numbers  died  of 
it,  and  were  buried  on  the  spot  where  they  fell.  In  con- 
sequence of  this  awful  visitation,  the  place  was  called 
Kibroth-Iiattaavah,  the  Graves  of  the  Lusters. 

At  Hazeroth,  the  place  to  which  the  Israelites  next 
marched,  a  circumstance  occurred  of  the  most  unpleasant 
nature.  Aaron  and  Miriam,  observing  the  power  and 
influence  of  Moses  over  the  people,  and  that  God  chiefly 
used  him  as  the  medium  through  which  he  communicated 
his  sacred  oracles,  began  to  regard  him  with  an  envious 
eye.  To  give  some  color  to  their  conduct,  they  pretended 
to  be  offended  wnth  him  for  having  married  a  foreigner, 
whom  they  contemptuously  called  an  Ethiopian ;  and 
then,  to  lessen  his  importance  in  the  eyes  of  the  people, 
and  to  enhance  their  own,  they  added,  "  Hath  the  Lord 
spoken  only  by  Moses  %  hath  he  not  spoken  also  by  us  ?" 
Moses  immediately  perceived  the  discontent  of  his  brother 
and  sister ;  but,  regarding  the  matter  as  a  mere  personal 
pique,  he  took  no  farther  notice  of  it.  The  Almighty, 
however,  being  -greatly  offended  at  their  conduct,  at  once 
summoned  them  to  appear,  with  Moses,  at  the  door  of  the 
Tabernacle ;  and,  having  sharply  rebuked  them  for  their 
wickedness,  withdrew^  his  presence ;  soon  after  which, 
Miriam,  as  the  instigator  of  this  opposition  to  Moses,  was 
aflaicted  with  a  leprosy,  which  removed  her  from  the  camp 
for  seven  da  vs. 


7Q  THE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

After  Miriam's  return  to  the  camp,  the  Israelites  re- 
moved to  the  desert  of  Paran,  whence  they  marched  to 
Kadesh-Barnea,  which  was  situated  on  the  frontier  of  the 
land  of  Canaan.  At  this  place  Moses,  by  Divine  com- 
mand, selected  twelve  men,  one  from  each  tribe,  and  sent 
them  over  into  the  promised  land  to  examine  the  country ; 
instructing  them  diligently  to  observe  the  strength  of  its 
cities  and  inhabitants,  the  nature  of  the  soil,  and  its  prin- 
cipal productions,  some  of  which  he  directed  them  to  bring 
with  them  on  their  return.  With  these  instructions,  the 
twelve  spies  set  forward  on  their  mission,  and  proceeded 
from  the  entrance  of  the  country  on  the  south,  to  its 
extremity  on  the  north.  On  their  return,  they  passed 
through  a  valley  remarkable  for  its  fertility  in  vines,  and 
therefore  called  the  Valley  of  Eshcol,  which  signifies  a  clus- 
ter of  grapes.  Attracted  by  the  fineness  of  the  fruit,  they 
determined  to  carry  some  of  it  with  them  to  the  camp. 
They,  therefore,  cut  dow^n  a  branch  containing  a  single 
cluster,  but  of  such  an  amazing  size  that  it  required  two 
men  to  carry  it.  Nor  was  this  the  only  extraordinary 
production  of  this  fertile  soil :  the  golden  fig,  the  beauti- 
ful pomegranate,  and  a  variety  of  other  rich  fruits,  loaded 
the  trees,  samples  of  all  of  which  they  took  with  them. 

The  spies,  having  carefully  examined  the  whole  country, 
returned  at  the  expiration  of  forty  days  ;  and  after  exhibit- 
ing the  fruits  of  the  land,  they  communicated  the  obser- 
vations which  they  had  made  during  their  journey  through 
it.  " The  land,"  said  they,  "is  a  fertile  and  plentiful  land ; 
but  the  inhabitants  of  it  are  powerful.  There  are  great 
cities  with  strong  walls.  We  have  seen  those  men  of  the 
race  of  Anak,  warlike  men,  and  of  a  gigantic  stature.  The 
Amalekites  inhabit  the  south  part  of  the  land;  the  Hittites, 
the  Jebusites,  and  the  Amorites,  the  mountains  ;  and  the 
Canaanites,  along  the  sea-coast,  and  on  the  banks  of  the 


THE      LEGISLATOR.  77 

river  Jordan."  This  report  of  the  majority  of  the  spies 
greatly  intimidated  the  Israelites,  and  a  fearful  state  of 
commotion  was  produced  in  the  camp;  but  Caleb  and 
Joshua,  who  were  of  the  number  of  those  who  had  been 
sent  into  the  land,  endeavored  to  compose  and  encourage 
the  people,  and  exhorted  them  to  go  up  at  once,  and  take 
possession  of  the  country;  "for,"  said  they,  "we  are  well 
able  to  overcome  it."  Irritated  by  the  advice  of  these  two 
faithful  inspectors  of  the  promised  land,  the  ten  unfaithful 
spies  replied,  "  We  be  not  able  to  go  up  against  the  peo- 
ple ;  for  they  are  stronger  than  we ;"  and  then,  with  regard 
to  the  country  itself,  and  its  inhabitants,  they  added,  "  The 
^and  eateth  up  the  inhabitants  thereof;  and  all  the  people 
that  we  saw  in  it  were  men  of  stature ;  and  there  we  saw 
the  giants,  and  we  were  in  our  own  sight  as  grasshoppers, 
and  so  we  were  in  their  sight." 

By  these  conflicting  reports,  the  people  became  more 
and  more  agitated  ;  and  "  the  whole  congregation  lifted 
up  their  voices  and  wept."  This  weeping  was  immediately 
followed  by  murmurings  against  Moses  and  Aaron,  and 
they  said  unto  them,  "  Would  God  that  we  had  died  in 
the  land  of  Egypt !  Or,  would  God  we  had  died  in  this 
wilderness!  And  wherefore  hath  the  Lord  brought  us 
into  this  land  to  fall  by  the  sword,  that  our  wives  and  our 
children  should  be  a  prey?"  This  address  so  deeply 
affected  Moses  and  Aaron,  that  they  immediately  fell  on 
their  faces  before  all  the  assembly ;  and  Caleb  and  Joshua, 
perceiving  this,  rent  their  clothes,  and  again  addressed  the 
multitude,  saying,  "  The  land  which  we  passed  through  to 
search  it,  is  an  exceeding  good  land.  If  the  Lord  delight 
in  us,  then  he  will  bring  us  into  this  land  and  give  it  us ; 
a  land  flowing  with  milk  and  honey.  Only  rebel  not  ye 
against  the  Lord ;  neither  fear  ye  the  people  of  the  land ; 
for  they  are  bread  for  us :  their  deiense  is  departed  from 


78  THE     ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

them,  and  the  Lord  is  with  us ;  fear  them  not.'*  But  the 
spirit  of  rebellion  had  now  become  too  violent  to  be 
quelled  by  words,  however  reasonable  or  persuasive ;  and 
they,  therefore,  instead  of  yielding  to  Caleb  and  Joshua, 
resolved  to  stone  them  at  once  to  death.  This  resolution 
they  would  have  instantly  executed,  had  not  "  The  Glory 
of  the  Lord  appeared  in  the  Tabernacle  of  the  congrega- 
tion, before  all  the  children  of  Israel." 

This  open  rebellion,  and  manifest  distrust  of  the  provi- 
dence of  God,  so  highly  offended  the  Almighty,  that  he  at 
once  resolved,  that  none  of  that  generation  of  Israel,  then 
over  twenty  years  of  age,  excepting  Caleb  and  Joshua, 
should  inherit  the  land  of  promise ;  and  he,  therefore, 
after  destroying,  by  a  plague,  the  ten  unfaithful  spies, 
directed  Moses  to  lead  the  people  again  into  the  wilder- 
ness, where  they  were  to  wander  forty  years  ;  declaring 
that,  "  There  they  shall  be  consumed,  and  there  they  shall 
die."  When  Moses  communicated  intelligence  of  this  de 
termination  of  the  Almighty,  to  the  people,  they  were,  as 
was  to  be  expected,  deeply  affected  by  it ;  "  and  they  rose 
up  early  in  the  morning,  and  got  them  up  into  the  top  of 
the  mountains,  saying,  '  Lo,  we  be  here,  and  will  go  up 
unto  the  place  which  the  Lord  hath  promised  ;  for  we  have 
sinned.'  "  But  their  penitence  was  evidently  feigned,  and 
not  felt ;  and,  therefore,  Moses  commanded  them  not  to  go 
up,  as  the  Lord  would  not  be  among  them.  But  they  still 
presumed  to  go  up  to  the  hill-top;  "nevertheless  the  Ark 
of  the  Covenant  of  the  Lord,  and  Moses,  departed  not  out 
of  the  camp  Then  the  Amalekites  came  down,  and  the 
Canaanites  which  dwelt  in  that  hill,  and  smote  them,  and 
discomfitted  them,  even  unto  Hormah,"  a  place  distant 
eleven  days  journey  from  the  camp. 

This  general  rebellion,  and  the  severe  punishment  which 
followed  it,  was  far  from  terminating  the  perverse  conduct 


THE      L  E  G  I  S  L  A  T  O  K .  79 

of  the  wicked  Israelites ;  for  soon  after,  Korah,  of  the  tribe 
of  Levi,  and  cousin  to  Moses,  with  Dathan  and  Abiram,  of 
the  tribe  of  Reuben,  formed  a  combination  Avith  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  of  the  most  influential  princes  of  the  con- 
gregation, against  Moses  and  Aaron.  Under  the  pretext 
that  their  leaders  assumed  too  much  authority,  they  said 
to  them,  "Ye  take  too  much  upon  you,  seeing  all  the  con- 
gregation are  holy,  every  one  of  them — and  the  Lord  is 
among  them :  wherefore,  then,  lift  ye  up  yourselves,  above 
the  congregation  of  the  Lord  ?"  When  Moses  heard  this 
strange  allegation,  he  fell  on  his  face,  and,  after  earnest 
supplication  to  the  Almighty,  he  rose  fi-om  the  ground  and 
referred  the  w^iole  matter  to  God's  own  decision.  "  To- 
morrow," said  he,  "  the  Lord  will  shew  who  are  his,  and 
who  is  holy,  and  will  cause  him  to  come  near  unto  him ; 
even  him  whom  he  hath  chosen  will  he  cause  to  come  near 
unto  him.  This  do :  take  you  censers,  Korah  and  all  his 
company,  and  put  fire  therein,  and  put  incense  in  them 
before  the  Lord  to-morrow :  and  it  shall  be,  that  the  man 
whom  the  Lord  doth  choose,  he  shall  be  holy." 

As  Korah,  by  his  artful  address,  had  succeeded  in  influ- 
encing most  of  the  leading  men  of  Israel  to  favor  his 
cause,  he  readily  consented  to  have  the  controversy  be- 
tween him  and  Aaron  decided  as  Moses  had  proposed  ; 
and,  on  the  following  day,  accordingly,  he  and  ail  his 
company  appeared  with  their  censers  before  the  Taberna- 
cle. There  they  were  soon  met  by  Moses  and  Aaron, 
with  their  censers ;  and  such  was  the  general  excitement 
throughout  the  camp,  that  the  whole  congregation  assem- 
bled to  witness  the  strange  scene.  No  sooner,  however, 
were  the  preparations  made  for  this  extraordinary  trial, 
than  the  people  beheld,  with  consternation,  an  unusual 
splendor  issuing  from  the  cloud  that  rested  upon  the 
Tabernacle,  out  of  which  the  indignant  voice  of  the  Lord 


80  THE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

came,  saying  to  Moses  and  Aaron,  "  Separate  yourselves 
from  the  congregation,  that  I  may  consume  them  in  a 
moment."  But  Moses,  not  willing  that  the  whole  nation 
should  perish  for  the  sin  of  one  man,  entreated  the  Lord 
on  their  behalf,  saying,  "  0  God,  the  God  of  the  spirits  oi 
all  iiesh,  s^rII  one  man  sin,  and  wilt  thou  be  wroth  with 
the  whole  congregation?"  This  entreaty  had  the  desired 
effect ;  and  God,  accordingly,  directed  Moses  to  order  the 
people  to  separate  themselves  from  the  tents  of  Korah, 
Dathan,  and  Abiram,  immediately  after  which,  "  the  eartli 
opened  her  mouth  and  swallowed  them  up,  and  their 
houses,  and  all  the  men  that  appertained  unto  Korah,  and. 
all  their  goods.  They  and  all  that  appertained  to  them 
went  down  alive  into  the  pit,  and  the  earth  closed  upor, 
them ;  and  they  perished  from  among  the  congregation.' 
In  addition  to  this  awful  judgment  upon  Korah,  Dathan, 
and  Abiram,  the  three  leaders  in  this  rebellion,  "there 
came  out  a  fire  from  the  Lord,  and  consumed  the  two 
hundred  and  fifty  men  that  offered  incense." 

It  now  became  evident,  however,  that  nothing  could  sub- 
due the  rebellions  spirit  of  this  wicked  people;  and,  accord- 
ingly, on  the  following  day,  they  began  again  to  murmur 
against  Moses  and  Aaron,  in  reference  to  the  "events  of  the 
preceding  day,  saying,  "  Ye  have  killed  the  people  of  the 
Lord."  This  audacious  conduct  was  more  than  the  patience 
of  the  Almighty  could  endure  ;  and  he,  therefore,  notwith- 
standing the  intercessions  of  Moses  and  Aaron  for  the 
deluded  multitude,  sent  a  plague  among  them,  which  has- 
tily swept  off  fourteen  thousand  and  seven  hundred. 

This  rebellion  of  Korah  and  his  accomplices,  was  di- 
rected more  particularly  against  Aaron  and  his  family,  in 
reference  to  their  pretensions  of  exclusive  right  to  the 
priestly  office ;  and,  therefore,  to  prevent  all  future  con- 
tests on  this  subject,  God  was  pleased  to  work  a  miracle. 


THE      LEGISLATOR.  81 

He  ordered  Moses  to  take  a  rod  from  each  of  the  tribes, 
and  to  write  upon  it  the  name  of  the  prince  of  the  tribe 
to  which  it  belonged  ;  and  to  write  Aaron's  name  upon 
the  rod  of  the  tribe  of  Levi.  This  being  done,  the  twelve 
rods  were  placed  in  the  Tabernacle,  J)efore  the  ark  of  testi- 
mony ;  and,  on  the  following  morning,  when  the  rods  were 
examined,  the  rod  of  Aaron  was  found,  during  the  night, 
to  have  budded,  blossomed,  and  even  borne  ripe  almonds, 
while  the  remaining  eleven  rods  had  undergone  no  change. 
This  being  a  convincing  proof  that  God  had  singled  out 
Aaron  and  his  family  for  the  priestly  office,  the  people 
seem  to  have  been,  thenceforth,  satisfied  with  this  arrange- 
ment; and,  to  keep  them  in  perpetual  remembrance  of  this 
remarkable  event,  Aaron's  rod  was  laid  up  in  the  Ark  of 
the  Covenant,  and  there,  for  generations,  preserved,  along 
with  the  miraculously-preserved  pot  of  manna. 


SECTION    V. 

Moses  : — The  Family  of  Aaron  eeiablished  in  the  Priesthood — Wander- 
ings of  the  Peuple  near  the  Mountains  of  Idumaea — Death  of  Miriam — 
Miraculous  Supply  of  Water  from  the  Rock  of  Kadish — Arrival  at 
Mount  Hor — Death  of  Aaron — Succeeded  by  his  Son,  Eleazer — Signal 
Victory  over  the  Canaanites  —  Renewed  Murmurings  —  Punit^hment 
of  Fiery  Serpents — The  Miraculous  Cure — The  People  again  in  the 
Vicinity  of  Canaan — Conquest  of  Moab  and  Midian — Balaam  request- 
ed to  curse  Israel — His  Character  and  Conduct — The  Mission  of  Moses 
ended — His  Death  and  Character. 

The  miracle  of  the  budding  rod  firmly  established  tl.»3 
family  of  Aaron  in  the  priestly  office  ;  and  for  many  years 
from  that  period,  the  Israelites  wandered  in  xhe  wilderness, 
but  chiefly  about  the  mountains  of  Idumaea,  until  God,  by 
shortening  the  duration  of  human  life,  had  removed  from 
the  earth  almost  all  the  generations  "  of  whom  he  had 
sworn  in  his  wrath  that  they  should  not  enter  into  his 
4* 


82  THE      ANCIENT      HEBEEWS. 

rest."  But  as  the  time  of  their  entrance  into  the  land  of 
Canaan  now  drew  near,  they  advanced  into  the  wilderness 
of  Zin,  and  pitched  their  camp  at  a  place  called  Kadeah, 
on  the  borders  of  Idumsea,  where  Miriam,  the  sister  of 
Moses,  died,  and  was^buried.  Here  the  Israelites  had  not 
long  remained,  before  they  once  more  became  greatly  dis- 
tressed for  want  of  water ;  and,  as  was  their  usual  custom, 
they  uttered  their  complaints  to  Moses  with  the  utmost 
bitterness. 

Moses,  as  on  all  former  occasions,  sought,  in  this  new 
emergency.  Divine  direction,  when  the  Almighty  ordered 
him  to  assemble  the  people  together,  and  in  their  presence 
speak  to  the  rock,  and  it  should  immediately  send  forth 
abundance  of  water.  But  Moses,  irritated  and  provoked 
with  the  increasing  rebellion  of  the  people,  instead  of 
simply  doing  as  the  Lord  had  commanded,  exclaimed, 
when  he  came  to  the  rock,  "  Hear  now,  ye  rebels,  must 
we  fetch  water  out  of  this  rock  %  And  Moses  lifted  up  his 
rod  and  sinote  the  rock  twice,  and  the  water  came  out 
abundantly,  and  the  congregation  drank,  and  their  beasts 
also."  But  this  conduct  of  Moses  so  greatly  displeased 
the  Almighty  as  to  draw  down  upon  this  hitherto  faithful 
servant  the  following  severe  sentence :  "  Because  ye  be- 
lieved me  not,  to  sanctify  me  in  the  eyes  of  the  children 
of  Israel,  therefore  ye  shall  not  bring  the  congregation 
into  the  land  which  I  have  given  them." 

As  the  direct  course  of  the  Israelites,  from  Kadesh  to 
the  promised  land,  was  through  Edom,  Moses  sent  mes- 
sengers to  the  king  of  that  country,  requesting  permission 
to  pass  through  his  territories,  assuring  him  that  they 
w^ould  commit  no  hostility,  nor  molest  any  of  his  subjects. 
But  the  king  of  Edom  would,  on  no  condition,  grant  this 
favor  to  the  Israelites,  and  they,  therefore,  endeavored  to 
pass  round  the  land  of  the  Edomites  by  marching  in  a 


THE     LEGISLATOR.  83 

different  direction.  In  their  progress  around  the  land  of 
Edom,  the  Israelites  came  to  Mount  Hor — a  place  thence- 
forth memorable  on  account  of  the  death  of  Aaron.  The 
circumstances,  attending  this  sad  event,  were  unusually 
solemn.  God  directed  Moses  to  take  Aaron  and  his  son 
Eleazer,  and  lead  them  up  into  the  top  of  the  mountain, 
in  the  sight  of  all  the  congregation,  and  there  strip  off 
Aaron's  sacerdotal  robes,  and  put  them  upon  Eleazer. 
*"  And  Aaron  died  there,  in  the  top  of  the  mountain ;  and 
Moses  and  Eleazer  came  down  from  the  mount.  And  all 
the  house  of  Israel  mourned  for  Aaron  thirty  days." 

While  the  Israelites  lay  encamped  near  Mount  Hor, 
they  were  suddenly  attacked  by  Arad,  one  of  the  kings 
of  the  southern  Canaanites ;  and  in  the  conflict  that  foL 
lowed,  the  Israelites  were  defeated,  and  some  of  them 
made  prisoners.  Mortified  by  this  defeat,  the  Israelites 
made  a  vow  to  God,  that  if  he  would  deliver  these  people 
into  their  hands,  they  would  utterly  destroy  them  and 
their  cities.  The  Almighty  was  pleased  to  listen  to  their 
request;  and  accordingly,  in  a  subsequent  battle,  Israel 
completely  triumphed,  took  possession  of  the  country  of 
the  Canaanites,  and  put  the  inhabitants  to  the  sword. 

Soon  after  this  signal  display  of  Divine  favor,  the  Israel- 
ites, while  passing  through  a  barren  country,  entirely  for- 
got their  recent  success,  relapsed  into  those  murmurings 
which  had  long  been  habitual  to  them,  and  reiterating 
their  old  complaints,  said  to  Moses,  "  Wherefore  have  ye 
brought  us  up  out  of  Egypt  to  die  in  the  wilderness  ?  for 
there  is  no  bread,  neither  is  there  any  water,  and  our  soul 
loathe th  this  light  bread."  This  fresh  instance  of  their 
impiety  and  distrust  of  God,  drew  down  upon  the  Israel- 
ites one  of  the  severest  punishments  they  had  ever  endured 
for  it  was  on  this  occasion  that  the  Lord  sent  fiery  serpents 
among  the  people,  "  and  they  bit  the  people ;   and  mucfl 


84  THE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

people  of  Israel  died."  This  dreadful  calamity  so  greatlj 
alarmed  the  Israelites,  that  they  immediately  applied  to 
Moses  for  protection,  acknowledging  their  sin,  and  l^e- 
seeching  him  to  intercede  with  God  for  their  relief. 
Moses,  pitying  their  distress,  readily  complied  with  their 
request;  and,  in  answer  to  his  prayer,  "the  Lord  said  unto 
Moses,  '  Make  thee  a  fiery  serpent,  and  set  it  on  a  pole  5 
and  it  shall  come  to  i>ass,  that  every  one  that  is  bitten, 
when  he  looketh  on  it,  shall  live.'  And  Moses  made  a 
serpent  of  brass,  and  put  it  on  a  pole,  and  whosoever  that 
was  bitten  of  the  fiery  ser|>ents,  when  they  looked  upon 
it,  lived." 

The  Israelites  were  now  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the 
promised  land — an  inheritance  to  be  icon  before  it  could 
be  enjoyed  ;  and  hence  commenced  that  series  of  triumphs 
over  their  enemies,  which  have  no  parallel  in  the  history  of 
the  world.  The  first  foe  encountered  was  Sihon,  king  of 
the  Amorites,  through  whose  country  they  desired  peace- 
ably to  pass,  but  were  positively  prohibited  from  doing  so. 
The  two  armies  met  near  a  place  called  Jahaz,  and,  a  des- 
perate battle  ensuing,  the  Amorites  were  totally  defeated, 
and  all  put  to  the  SAvord.  Following  up  the  advantage 
which  this  victory  atTorded,  the  Israelites  soon  subdued 
the  greater  part  of  the  enemy's  country,  and  at  length 
took  Heshbon,  the  capital  of  the  kingdom — a  city  situated 
about  twenty  miles  east  of  the  river  Jordan.  Thev  next 
encountered  Og,  another  king  of  the  Amorites,  whose 
dominions  surrounded  mount  Bashan.  These  Amorites 
were  of  gigantic  stature,  and  Moses,  fearing  that  the 
Israelites  might  be  alarmed  at  the  sight  of  tins  formida- 
ble enemy,  bade  them  not  be  discouraged  at  the  appearance 
of  the  army,  for  tlie  Almighty  would  surely  deliver  them 
into  their  iiands.  Animated  by  this  assurance,  the  Israel- 
itcB  attacked  these  Amorites  with  such  impetuosity  as  to 


T  H  E      L  £  G  I  S  L  A  T  O  R .  85 

render  all  resistance  vain  ;  and  king  Og  and  his  sons  fall- 
ing in  the  conflict,  the  whole  country  immediately  submit- 
ted to  the  victors. 

Encouraged  by  these  signal  victories,  the  Israelites  now 
marched  to  the  plains  of  Moab,  and  encamped  on  the  bank 
of  the  river  Jordan,  opposite  to  the  city  of  Jericho.  The 
approach  of  these  victorious  strangers  spread  terror 
throughout  the  whole  country,  and  the  fame  of  their 
recent  success  against  the  Amorites,  threw  Balak,  king 
of  Moab,  and  all  his  subjects,  into  the  most  fearful  con- 
sternation. Aware  that  he  was  too  weak  to  contend, 
single-handed,  with  the  mighty  force  of  Israel,  he  sought 
the  alliance  of  the  neighboring  Midianites ;  and  the  two 
princes  had  no  sooner  met,  than  they  began  to  devise 
means  to  avoid  the  common  danger,  and  to  secure  them- 
selves against  their  bold  invaders.  After  much  delibera- 
tion, they  finally  resolved  to  send  messengers  to  Balaam, 
a  noted  magician,  who  resided  at  Pethor,  a  city  of  Meso- 
potamia, and  endeavor  to  induce  him,  by  bribes,  to  come 
to  Moab,  and  curse  the  Israelites,  that  their  success  might 
be  stayed.  The  fame  of  Balaam  must,  at  this  time,  have 
been  very  great,  or  it  could  not  have  been  believed,  in  lands 
so  remote  as  Moab  and  Midian,  that  he  had  power  to  con- 
trol the  destiny  of  men,  and  even  of  nations.  But  that, 
though  a  bad  man,  he  was  really  a  prophet,  and  had  been 
accustomed  to  receive,  by  Divine  inspiration,  communica- 
tions from  God,  there  can  be  no  doubt. 

The  messengers  dispatched  to  Balaam,  embraced  many 
of  the  principal  nobility  of  both  Moab  and  Midian ;  and 
as  soon  as  they  arrived  at  Pethor,  they  delivered  to  the 
prophet  their  message,  together  with  the  presents  with 
which  they  had  been  intrusted,  and  desired  him,  without 
delay,  to  accompany  them.  But  Balaam  detained  the 
messengers  until  the  following  morning ;  and,  in  the  mean 


86  THE     ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

time.,  consulting  the  Almighty,  God  said  to  him,  "  Thou 
shalt,  not  go  with  them :  thou  shalt  not  curse  the  people, 
for  they  are  blessed."  Balaam,  in  accordance  with  this 
direction  from  God,  simply  replied  to  the  messengers, 
"  The  Lord  refuseth  to  give  me  leave  to  go  with  jou." 
This  answer  only  stimulated  Balak  to  send  immediately 
to  Balaam  another  and  more  numerous  embassy,  with 
richer  presents,  and  the  following  message  :  "  Let  nothing 
hinder  thee  from  coming  to  me ;  for  I  will  promote  thee  to 
very  great  honor,  and  give  thee,  whatsoever  thou  shalt  ask, 
if  thou  wilt  but  come  and  curse  this  people."  This  second 
message  greatly  excited  the  cupidity  of  Balaam,  and,  blind- 
ed by  covetousness  and  ambition,  he  again  applied  to  the 
Almighty  for  permission  to  go  to  Balak.  To  this  applica- 
tion God  replied,  "  If  the  men  come  to  call  thee,  rise  up 
and  go  with  them ;  but  yet  the  word  which  I  shall  say 
unto  thee,  that  shalt  thou  do."  That  this  permission  was, 
however,  intended  to  develop  Balaam's  character,  there  can 
be  no  doubt ;  for  he  had  scarcely  started  on  his  journey, 
before,  it  is  said,  God's  anger  was  kindled  because  he 
went ;  and,  on  his  Avay,  the  Lord  miraculously  communi- 
cated to  the  dumb  ass  upon  which  he  rode  the  power  of 
speech,  to  reprove  him. 

When  Balak  heard  that  Balaam  was  approaching,  he 
went  out  to  the  borders  of  his  dominions  to  meet  him ; 
and,  having  conducted  him  to  his  capital,  Balaam  soon 
after  caused  seven  altars  to  be  erected  on  an  eminence  in 
the  sight  of  the  Israelites,  and,  having  oftered  an  ox  and  a 
ram  on  each,  he  left  Balak  to  watch  the  sacrifices,  and 
retired  to  consult  the  Almighty  respecting  the  result. 
On  his  return  to  the  altars,  Balaam,  addressing  Balak  and 
the  princes  of  Moab,  said,  "  Balak,  the  king  of  Moab,  hath 
brought  me  from  Aram,  out  of  the  mountains  of  the  east, 
Baying,  '  Come,  curse  me  Jacob,  and  come,  defy  Israel.* 


THE      LEGISLATOR.  87 

How  shall  I  curse  whom  God  hath  not  cursed  ?  or  how 
shall  I  defy  whom  the  Lord  hath  not  defied  ?  For,  from 
the  tops  of  the  rocks  I  see  him,  and  from  the  hills  I  behold 
liim :  Lo,  the  people  shall  dwell  alone,  and  sh?-!!  not  be 
reckoned  among  the  nations.  Who  can  count  the  dust  of 
Jacob,  and  the  number  of  the  fourth  part  of  Israel  1  Let 
me  die  the  death  of  the  righteous,  and  let  my  last  end  be 

like  his." 

Balak  was  greatly  incensed  at  Balaam  for  the  failure  of 
this  first  attempt  to  curse  the  Israehtes ;  but,  in  hopes  that 
another  trial  might  prove  more  successful,  he  caused  other 
altars   to   be  erected— first  on  mount  Pisgah,  and  after- 
wards on  mount  Peor,  and  on  the  high  places  of  Baal,  and 
ordered   the  offerings  to  be  repeated.     All    their  eftbrts, 
however,  to  curse  Israel,  proved  equally  ineftectual ;   and 
Balak  at  length  indignantly  dismissed  Balaam  from  Moab 
to  return  to  his  own  country.     Disappointed  at  not  receiv 
ing   the   rewards  of  his  unrighteous  designs   against   the 
Israelites,  Balaam  seems  soon  to  have  conceived  a  plan 
for  seducing  Israel  to  sin,  and  thus  forfeit  the  protection 
of   the   Almighty.      The  plan    proposed,   and   which   he 
immediately   communicated    to   Balak,  was,   to   send    the 
daughters  of  Moab  and  Midian  into  the  Israelitish  camp, 
that  they,  by  their  blandishments,  might  allure  Israel  from 
the  worship  of  Jehovah,  to  that  of  their  idol,  Baal,  and 
also  lead  them  to  tlie  commission  of  other  sins.     This 
wicked  device  was  immediately  carried  into   effect,  and 
was  attended  with  all  the  fatal  success  anticipated. 

For  allowing  themselves  to  be  thus  deluded,  and  led 
astray  by  these  strange  women,  God  punished  the  Israel- 
ites with  the  utmost  severity.  He  first  directed  Moses  to 
select  out  a  thousand  of  the  principal  offenders,  and  brin^ 
them  into  the  presence  of  the  whole  congretion ;  immedi- 
ately after  which,  he  sent  a  plague  into  the  camp,  which 


88     .  T  H  E     A  N  C  I  E  X  T      II  E  B  R  E  W  S  . 

soon  carried  off  twenty-three  thousand  more.  These 
merited  punishments  so  greatly  alarmed  the  sinful  Israel- 
ites, that  they  immediately  assembled  at  the  door  of  the 
Tabernacle,  and,  with  the  most  expressive  sense  of  afflic- 
tion, they  bewailed  their  folly  and  wickedness  in  suffering 
themselves  to  have  been  led  astray  by  a  strange  people, 
who  were,  at  the  same  time,  their  mortal  enemies.  This 
penitence  of  the  congregation,  together  with  an  heroic 
act  of  Phineas,  the  son  of  Eleazer  the  high-priest,  turned 
away  the  Divine  wrath  from  Israel,  and  the  plague 
ceased. 

After  the  disorders,  which  the  Moabite  and  Midianite 
women  had  created,  were  removed,  and  the  offending 
Israelites  punished,  Moses  was  directed  by  God  to  num- 
ber the  people ;  and,  from  the  census  then  taken,  it  appeared 
that  there  were  about  a  thousand  less  than  when  they  left 
Egypt.  The  Almighty  next  ordered  Moses  to  punish  the 
Midianites,  as  the  principal  authors  of  the  late  defection 
and  consequent  calamity.  With  this  view,  he  di'ew  out  a 
band  of  twelve  thousand  choice  warriors,  taking  a  thou- 
sand from  each  tribe,  and,  accompanied  by  Phineas,  who 
took  with  him  the  ark  and  the  sacred  trumpets,  they  en- 
tered the  enemy's  country  with  full  confidence  of  success. 
Though  their  army  was  so  comparatively  small,  yet,  trust- 
ing in  their  Divine  Protector,  they  soon  vanquished  five 
kings,  at  the  head  of  their  respective  hosts,  and  put  them 

*all  to  the  sword.  It  was  in  one  of  these  battles  that  the 
wicked  prophet  Balaam,  whose  avarice  had  induced  him 
to  join  the  Moabite  army,  was  slain. 

The  vast  number  of  the  enemy  overcome  in  these  differ- 
ent engagements,  may  be  fairly  inferred  from  the  immense 

-amount  of  spoils  taken.  These,  besides  the  thousands  of 
women  and  children  that  were  made  captives,  and  the 
great  quantity  of  rich  goods,  and  gold  and  silver  orna- 


THE      LEGISLATOR.  89 

ments,  comprised  seventy-two  thousand  oxen,  sixty-one 
thousand  asses,  and  six  hundred  and  seventy  thousand 
five  hundred  sheep ;  and,  what  is  still  more  remarkable, 
not  a  single  Israelite  fell  in  the  conflict. 

The  conquest  of  Moab  and  Midian  placed  the  Israelites 
in  possession  of  all  that  part  of  the  country  -which  lay  on 
the  east  side  of  the  river  Jordan;  and,  as  the  land  was 
very  fertile,  and  afforded  abundance  of  pasturage,  the 
tribes  of  Eeuben  and  Gad,  and  the  half  tribe  of  Ma 
nasseh,  requested  Moses  to  allow  them  to  make  it  their 
permanent  abode.  To  this  request  Moses  readily  acceded, 
on  condition  that  they  would  furnish  their  proportion  of 
the  army,  which  would  still  be  required  to  complete  the 
conquest  of  the  promised  land.  He  then,  by  Divine  direc- 
tion, designated  the  limits  of  the  country  that  was  still  to 
be  conquered,  and  ordered  that  the  distribution  of  the 
whole  should  be  made  among  the  different  tribes  by  lot ; 
assigning  the  chief  arrangement  of  their  future  settlement 
to  Eleazer,  the  high-priest,  and  Joshua,  the  general  of  the 
army.  To  the  Levites,  who  were  to  possess  no  landed 
property,  he  assigned,  as  residences,  forty-eight  cities, 
with  their  suburbs,  six  of  which  were  to  be  cities  of  refuge, 
whither  the  Israelite,  who  had  accidentally  killed  another, 
might  flee,  and  there  remain  in  safety  until  the  death  of 
the  high-priest,  which  should  be  the  sign  of  his  restoration 
to  liberty. 

The  forty  years'  sojourn  of  the  Israelites  in  the  wilder- 
ness, having  now  nearly  closed,  Moses  called  all  the  people 
together  on  the  plains  of  Moab,  and  there,  in  the  presence 
of  the  whole  congregation,  rehearsed  the  gracious  dealings 
of  God  with  their  fathers  since  they  left  Egypt — their 
continual  murmurings  and  rebellions  against  him,  and  the 
many  severe  judgments  that  followed,  even  to  his  own 
exclusion  from  the  promised  land.     He  then  gave  them  a 


00  THE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

Bummary  of  the  various  laws  which  God  had  instituted  for 
the  promotion  of  their  happiness  ;  and,  after  repeating  the 
Ten  Commandments,  he  reminded  them  of  the  solemn 
manner  in  which  they  were  delivered  from  mount  Sinai,  and 
of  the  many  obligations  they  were  under,  to  render  a 
strict  obedience  to  them.  He  farther  assured  them,  that  if 
they  proved  faithful  to  God,  and  kept  his  commandments, 
the  Almighty  would  bestow  innumerable  blessings  upon 
them;  but  should  they,  on  the  contrary,  forg'et  him,  and 
neglect  his  statutes,  he  would  visit  them  with  the  severest 
calamities. 

These,  and  various  other  directions  relative  to  their 
future  conduct  in  the  land  of  Canaan,  Moses  first  deliv- 
ered to  the  people  verbally,  and  then  afterwards  caused 
them  to  be  written  in  a  book  and  placed  within  the  ark, 
there  to  remain,  to  be  used  as  a  witness  against  them, 
should  they,  at  any  future  time,  again  rebel.  He  also 
composed  the  song  of  Eecapitulation — a  poem  of  unusual 
excellence — in  which  he  particularly  noticed  the  many 
benefits  which  God  had  bestowed  upon  his  people — their 
ingratitude  and  forgetfulness  of  liim — the  punishments 
with  which  he  had  afflicted  them  ;  and  the  threats  of 
greater  judgments,  should  they  persist  in  provoking  him 
by  a  repetition  of  their  follies  and  crimes.  This  beautiful 
poetic  performance  extends  from  the  commencement  of  the 
thirty-second,  to  the  end  of  the  forty-third  chapter  of 
Deuteronomy. 

Moses  having  now  brought  the  Israelites  to  the  borders 
of  the  land  of  Canaan,  his  mission  on  earth  was  finished, 
and  he,  therefore,  after  taking  a  solemn  leave  of  the  peo- 
ple, constituted,  in  accordance  with  the  Divine  command, 
Joshua  as  his  successor.  He  then  ascended  to  the  top  of 
mount  Pisgah,  whence  he  could  survey  the  entii-e  country 
which  God  had,  more  than  five  hundred  and  fifty  years 


THE     LEGISLATOR.  91 

before,  promised  to  Abraham's  posterity.  Here,  after 
having  for  some  time  gazed,  with  melancholy  admiration, 
on  the  delightful  plains  of  Jericho,  and  the  fair  cliffs  and 
lofty  cedars  of  Lebanon,  he  quietly  resigned  his  gentle 
spirit  into  the  hands  of  the  Almighty,  and  his  emancipated 
soul  at  once  entered  upon  the  possession  of  a  far  happier 
Canaan  than  that  upon  which  he  had  just  been  gazing. 
The  death  of  this  distinguished  servant  of  God  occurred 
1451  A.  C,  and  when  he  had  just  attained  the  one  hun- 
dred and  twentieth  year  of  his  age. 

Though  Moses  was,  at  the  time  of  his  death,  so  far 
advanced  in  life,  yet  "  his  eye  was  not  dim,  nor  his  natu- 
ral force  abated."  His  death,  therefore,  may  be  regarded 
as  an  event  as  miraculous  as  any  other  incident  in  his 
wonderful  career.  His  burial,  too,  was  equally  remarka- 
ble ;  for  God  himself  buried  him  in  a  valley,  in  the  land 
of  Moab,  opposite  to  Beth  Peor,  and  in  so  secret  a  man- 
ner that  the  place  of  his  interment  has  never  been  dis- 
covered. 

Moses,  in  whatever  light  we  view  his  character,  must  be 
regarded  as  one  of  the  most  remarkable  men  of  any  age 
or  country.  In  addition  to  his  natural  talents,  he  enjoyed 
every  advantage  of  education  then  known ;  and,  in  the 
exercise  of  his  varied  powers,  he  exhibited  all  the  attri- 
butes of  a  skillful  leader,  a  profound  philosopher,  an  emi- 
nent prophet,  and  a  beautiful,  pathetic,  and  even  sublime 
poet.  But  the  circumstance  which  exalts  his  character 
immeasurably  above  any  other  of  the  sons  of  men,  is  the 
intimate  relation  which  he  bore  for  many  years  to  the 
Deity  himself;  so  that,  in  allusion  to  the  coming  Messiah, 
he  could,  with  propriety,  say,  "  A  prophet  shall  the  Lord 
thy  God  raise  up  unto  thee  from  among  thy  brethren  like 
unto  me." 


CHAPTER    THE    THIRD. 
THE    JUDGES. 

SECTION  I. 

Joshua: — The  Crossing  of  tlie  Jordan — Fall  of  Jericho — The  Trans- 
gression of  Achan — Fall  of  Ai — Deception  of  the  Gibeonites — League 
of  the  Canaanitish  Kings  of  Jerusalem,  Hebron.  Jarmuth,  Lachish, 
and  Eglon,  against  the  Israelites — Tbe  total  overthrow  of  the  Allies-— 
The  Sun  and  Moon  stayed  in  their  Course — Canaan  divided  by  Lot 
amongst  the  Tribes — The  Portion  of  Joshua  and  Caleb — Joshua's 
Death  and  Character. 

Immediately  after  the  death  of  Moses,  1451  A.  C, 
Joshua,  his  successor,  assumed  the  command  of  the 
Israelites,  and  at  once  made  preparation  to  lead  them 
over  the  river  Jordan,  and  settle  them  in  the  land  of 
Canaan.  To  encourage  his  heart  in  this  arduous  under- 
taking, the  Almighty  was  pleased  graciously  to  promise 
him  his  Divine  assistance ;  saying  unto  him,  "  As  I  was 
with  Moses,  so  will  I  be  with  thee ;  I  will  not  fail  thee, 
nor  forsake  thee.  Be  strong,  and  of  a  good  courage,  for 
unto  this  people  shalt  thou  divide  for  an  inheritance  the 
land  which  I  sware  unto  their  fathers  to  give  them.  Only 
be  thou  strong  and  very  courageous,  that  thou  mayest 
observe  to  do  according  to  all  the  law  which  Moses,  my 
servant,  commanded  thee.  Turn  not  from  it  to  the  right 
hand  nor  to  the  left,  that  thou  mayest  prosper  whitherso- 
ever thou  goest." 

Under  this  assurance  of  assistance  from  the  Almighty, 
.loshua  ordered  the  captains  of  Israel  to  proclaim  through- 
out the  camp,  that  within  three  days  they  should  pass  the 
Jordan,  to  take  possession  of  the  land  which  God  had 


94  THE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

promised  them;  and  that  they  must,  therefore,  provide 
themselves  with  such  necessaries  as  the  important  occasion 
required.  He  then  called  together  the  leaders  of  the  tribes 
of  Reuben  and  Gad,  and  the  half  tribe  of  Manasseh,  and 
reminded  them  of  the  promise  they  had  made  to  Moses, 
not  to  forsake  the  common  cause  till  all  their  enemies 
should  be  subdued.  These  tribes  at  once  declared  their 
determination,  faithfully  to  fulfil  their  engagement,  and 
to  obey  him  as  implicitly  as  they  had  obeyed  his  prede 
cessor. 

The  camp  of  Israel  was,  at  this  time,  directly  opposite 
to  the  city  of  Jericho ;  and  that  city,  therefore,  must  neces 
sarily  be  the  first  place  of  attack,  after  they  should  cross 
the  river.  As  a  precautionary  step  to  this  important  enter- 
prise, Joshua  sent  two  spies,  to  observe  the  situation  and 
the  strength  of  the  city,  and  to  ascertain  the  disposition 
of  the  inhabitants.  These  spies,  having  crossed  the  Jor 
dan  and  entered  the  city  without  observation,  were  kindly 
received  by  the  harlot  Rahab,  and  entertained  at  her  house. 
They  had  not,  however,  been  long  in  the  city,  before  infor- 
mation of  their  arrival  was  conveyed  to  the  king,  who  at 
once  sent  ofiicers  to  the  house  of  Rahab  to  have  them 
seized.  Rahab  had,  however,  received  information  of  the 
king's  design,  and  she,  therefcyre,  hid  the  spies  under  some 
stalks  of  flax  on  the  flat  roof  of  her  house.  This  being 
done,  she  descended  and  met  the  ofiicers,  and  after  hearing 
from  them  the  object  of  their  visit,  she  replied  that  there 
liad  been  such  persons  at  her  house,  but  that  she  knew 
not  who  they  were,  nor  whence  they  came  ;  that  soon  after 
dark,  and  before  the  gates  of  the  city  were  shut,  they  de- 
parted ;  but,  as  they  could  not  have  gone  far,  she  advised 
them  to  pursue  and  overtake  them. 

The  oflScers  of  tlie  king,  believing  the  account  which 
Rahab  had  given  them  of  the  spies,  immediately  left  her, 


T  II  E     J  U  D  G  E  S  .  95 

and  went  in  pursuit  of  them;   but  they  had  no  sooner 
gone,  than  she  hastened  to  her  guests,  and  informed  them 
of  all   that    had   passed,   dwelling  particularly  upon   the 
great  danger  to  which  she  had  exposed  herself  and  her 
family  on  their  account.     In  return  for  this  kindness,  she 
exacted  from  them  an  oath,  that  when  the  city  should  be 
taken  by  the  Israelites,  herself  and  her  family  should  be 
preserved  from  the  general  destruction.     To  this  the  spies 
readily  consented,  immediately  after  which,  she  let  them 
down  into  the  street  by  a  rope  from  a  window,  whence 
they,  in  accordance  with  her  advice,  escaped,  unperceived, 
to  the  mountains ;  and,  having  there  concealed  themselves 
for  three  days,  at  the  expiration  of  that  time  they  recrossed 
the  Jordan,  hastened  to  the  camp  of  the  Israelites,  at  Shit 
tim,  and  gave  Joshua  a  particular  account  of  their  expe- 
dition,  adding,  "  Truly,  the  Lord  hath  delivered  into  out 
hands  ail  the  land ;  for  even  all   the  inliabitants  of  the 
country  faint  because  of  us."     The  character  of  Eahab 
has  been  a  matter  of  much  speculation  ;  but  whatever  it 
may  have  been  previous  to  the  reception  and  concealment 
of  the  spies,  that  she  was,  at  that  time,  a  true  believer,  is 
evident  from  the  testimony  given  of  her  by  the  Apostle 
Paul,  in  the  thirty-first  verse  of  the  eleventh  chapter  of 
the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews. 

The  morning  following  the  return  of  the  spies  to  the 
camp,  Joshua  left  Shittim,  and  conducted  his  army  to  the 
bank  of  the  Jordan.  Here  he  communicated  to  each  tribe 
the  order  to  be  observed  in  their  passage  through  the  river. 
The  priests,  bearing  the  Ark  of  the  Covenant,  marched  to 
the  margin  of  tlie  stream,  in  advance  of  the  main  body  of 
the  army  about  two  thousand  cubits ;  and  their  feet  had 
no  sooner  touched  the  water,  than  the  upper  part  of  the 
river  rolled  back  and  rose  on  heaps  above  them,  while  the 
waters  below  flowed  on  in  their  natural  course,  leaving  a 


96  THE     ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

passage  throngli  which  for  the  Israelites  to  pass,  about 
sixteen  miles  in  width.  When  the  priests  reached  the 
middle  of  the  channel,  they  stood  still  until  the  whole 
multitude  of  the  congregation  had  passed  by  them  to  the 
opposite  shore;  and  then,  according  to  the  command  of 
Joshua,  they  reared  a  monument  with  twelve  stones,  on 
the  spot  where  they  were  standing,  immediately  after 
which  they  left  the  bed  of  the  river,  and  the  waters  at 
once  returned,  and  resumed  their  natural  course. 

The  Israelites,  having,  by  this  miraculous  passage  of  the 
Jordan,  reached  the  plains  of  Jericho,  encamped  about 
two  miles  northeast  of  the  city ;  and  here  Joshua  erected 
another  monument,  with  twelve  stones  which  had  been 
brought  from  the  bed  of  the  Jordan,  as  a  testimony  to 
posterity  that  the  Almighty  had,  by  the  interposition  of 
his  Divine  power,  opened  a  safe  passage  for  them  through 
the  channel  of  the  stream.  The  ceremony  of  clrcum' 
cision,  and  the  celebration  of  the  passover,  both  of  which 
had  been  discontinued  during  their  journeyings  in  the 
wilderness,  were  now  renewed,  the  Lord  saying  unto 
Joshua,  "  This  day  have  I  rolled  away  the  reproach  of 
Egypt  from  oft"  you ;  therefore  the  place  shall  be  called 
Gilgal,"  which  signifies  to  roll  away.  The  miraculous 
supply  of  manna  also  ceased,  and  the  people  thenceforth 
subsisted  upon  the  natural  productions  of  the  country. 

The  intelligence  of  the  miraculous  passage  of  the  river 
Jordan  by  the  Israelites,  soon  circulated  through  the  adja- 
cent parts  of  the  country,  and  filled  the  inhabitants  with 
such  consternation,  that  when  the  kings  of  the  Amorites, 
who  dwelt  on  the  west  side  of  the  river,  and  the  kings  of 
the  Canaanites,  who  inhabited  those  parts  which  were  next 
to  the  sea,  heard  of  it,  their  hearts  sunk  with  fear,  and 
their  courage  failed  them.  But  before  Joshua  marched 
his  army  against  Jericho,  be  secretly  left  the  camp  for  the 


THE     JUDGES.  97 

purpose  of  reconnoitering  the  city  alone,  in  order  to  ascer- 
tain in  what  way  it  might  be  most  effectually  approached. 

AVhile  Joshua  was  making  his  observations,  there  sud- 
denly appeared  to  him  a  man  with  a  drawn  sword  in  his 
hand.  Little  intimidated  by  this  unusual  appearance, 
Joshua  immediately  advanced  towards  the  man,  and  de- 
manded of  him,  "Art  thou  for  us,  or  for  our  adversaries'?" 
And  he  said,  "  Nay,  but  as  a  captain  of  the  host  of  the 
Lord  am  I  now  come."  Joshua's  eyes  being  now  opened, 
he  perceived  that  it  was  a  manifestation  of  Jehovah  him- 
self; and  he  "fell  on  his  face  to  the  earth,  and  worshipped, 
and  said,  'What  saith  my  Lord  unto  his  servant?'  And 
the  captain  of  the  Lord's  host  said  to  Joshua,  'Loose  the 
shoe  oft"  thy  feet,  for  the  place  where  thou  standest  is  holy 
ground.'  "  He  then  gave  him  specific  directions  concern- 
ing the  manner  in  which  the  city  should  be  taken  ;  inform- 
ing him  that  for  six  successive  days  the  whole  array  should 
march  round  the  city,  with  seven  priests  before  the  Ark, 
carrying  in  their  hands  trumpets  of  rams'  horns — that  on 
the  seventh  day,  after  the  army  had  gone  round  the  city 
seven  times,  upon  the  giving  of  a  certain  signal,  the  priests 
should  give  a  long  blast  with  their  trumpets,  and  the  peo- 
ple should  utter  a  great  shout- — that  as  soon  as  this  shout 
should  be  heard,  the  walls  of  the  city  should  fall  to  the 
ground,  and  the  army  enter  it  without  obstruction. 

Joshua,  having  received  these  directions  from  the  Di- 
vine messenger,  immediately  returned  to  the  camp,  and, 
early  the  following  morning,  he  marched,  with  his  whole 
army,  against  Jericho.  The  city  was  strong,  well  provided, 
and  filled  with  inhabitants,  who  seemed  resohed  to  make 
a  vigorous  defense.  But  the  Almighty  himself  was  on  the 
side  of  Israel ;  and  their  leader  having  strictly  obeyed  the 
Divine  orders,  the  result  was  in  exact  accordance  with  the 
promise.     On  the  seventh  day,  ?is  soon  as  the  people  had 


98-  THE     ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

gone  round  the  city  seven  times,  and  had  shouted  theii 
great  shout,  the  walls  fell  to  the  ground,  and  the  Israelites 
entered  the  place  without  opposition — putting  every  living 
creature  within  it  to  the  sword,  excepting  Eahab  and  her 
family,  who  were  spared  according  to  the  stipulation  made 
with  the  spies. 

The  spoils  of  the  city  in  gold,  silver,  and  brass,  were 
immense ;  and  these  being  gathered  together,  Joshua  pre- 
sented them  to  the  priests,  that  they  might  be  deposited 
in  the  sacred  treasury.  He  then  reduced  the  cjty  to  ashes, 
and  denounced  a  heavy  curse  upon  any  one  who  should 
ever  attempt  to  rebuild  it ;  saying,  "  Cursed  be  the  '^an 
before  the  Lord,  that  riseth  up  and  buildeth  this  city 
Jericho ;  he  shall  lay  the  foundation  thereof  in  his  first- 
born, and  in  his  youngest  son  shall  he  set  up  the  gates 
of  it." 

Joshua,  previous  to  the  fall  of  Jericho,  had  forbidden 
the  army  to  take  any  private  plunder  in  that  city,  and 
had  used  the  greatest  precaution  to  prevent  it.  But,  not- 
withstanding all  his  vigilance,  Achan,  of  the  tribe  of 
Judah,  succeeded  in  concealing  in  a  pit  dug  in  the  centre 
of  his  tent,  a  rich  royal  robe,  two  hundred  shekels  of 
silver,  and  a  wedge  of  gold  of  fifty  shekels  value.  This 
daring  theft,  though  carefully  concealed  from  the  wicked 
perpetrator's  companions,  was  clearly  seen  by  the  eye  of 
the  Almighty,  and  soon  after  punished  in  the  most  awful 
manner. 

The  destruction  of  Jericho  was  immediately  followed 
by  an  attack  upon  Ai,  a  small  city  east  of  Bethel,  and 
about  ten  or  twelve  mil^s  from  the  Israelitish  camp.  As 
Joshua  had  been  informed  by  some  spies  that  the  inhabit- 
ants of  the  place  were  neither  numerous,  nor  well  prepared 
for  defense,  he  detached  ^  select  band  of  three  thousand 
chosen  men  against  it,  expecting  an  easy  conquest,      But, 


THEJUDGES.  99 

to  his  utter  amazement,  the  men  of  Ai  had  no  sooner  come 
out  of  the  city  to  defend  it,  than  his  own  forces  were  seized 
with  a  sudden  panic,  and  precipitately  fled  before  this  in- 
considerable enemy,  leaving,  in  their  flight,  thirty-six  of 
their  number  dead  upon  the  field.  This  defeat,  though 
comparatively  small,  so  deeply  affected  Joshua,  that  he 
had  immediate  recourse  to  the  Almighty,  to  ascertain  the 
cause ;  when  God  informed  him  that  an  act  of  theft  and 
sacrilege  among  the  people  had  forfeited  the  Divine  pro- 
tection, and  that  no  farther  success  could  attend  the  house 
of  Israel  till  the  cause  of  his  displeasure  was  removed — 
intimating,  at  the  same  time,  the  means  by  which  the 
offender  might  be  discovered  and  brought  to  punish- 
ment. 

In  accordance  with  the  Divine  directions  Joshua,  on 
the  following  morning,  prepared  to  discover  the  one  who 
had  brought  so  great  an  evil  upon  the  people.  With  this 
view,  he  ordered  all  the  tribes  to  assemble  before  the  altar, 
and  upon  casting  lots  among  them,  the  tribe  of  Judah  w^as 
taken.  He  then  proceeded  from  tribe  to  family,  from 
family  to  household,  and  from  household  to  individual, 
when  the  criminal  was  discovered  to  be  Achan,  the  son  of 
Carmi.  As  soon  as  this  discovery  was  made,  "Joshua 
said  unto  Achan,  '  My  son,  give,  I  pray  thee,  glory  to  the 
Lord  God  of  Israel,  and  make  confession  unto  him ;  and 
tell  me  now  what  thou  hast  done,  and  hide  it  not  from 
me.'  And  Achan  said,  '  Indeed  I  have  sinned  against  the 
Lord  God  of  Israel,  and  thus,  and  thus  have  I  done. 
AVhen  I  saw  amongst  the  spoils  a  goodly  Babylonish  gar- 
ment, and  two  hundred  shekels  of  silver,  and  a  wedge  of 
gold  of  fifty  shekels  weight,  then  I  coveted  them,  and 
took  them,  and  behold,  they  are  hid  in  the  earth,  in  the 
midst  of  my  tent,  and  the  silver  under  it.'  " 

This  frank  and  candid  confession  of  Achan  was  irame- 


100  THE     ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

diately  followed  by  the  production  of  the  stolen  treasures  5 
but  still  the  sentence  of  the  law  was  to  be  executed  upon 
the  offender.  He,  therefore,  together  with  his  family,  his 
cattle,  and  all  that  he  possessed,  was  immediately  con- 
ducted to  a  neighboring  valley,  thenceforth  called  the 
valley  of  Achor ;  and,  after  the  living  were  stoned  to 
death,  all  was  placed  in  one  common  pile,  and  reduced  to 
ashes.  Over  the  ruins  thus  produced,  a  pile  of  stones  was 
raised,  to  perpetuate  the  remembrance  of  the  crime,  and 
also  to  deter  others  from  committing  a  similar  offense. 

The  Divine  vengeance  being  appeased  by  the  destruction 
of  Achan,  God  commanded  Joshua  again  to  attack  the  city 
of  Ai,  assuring  him  that  he  should  now  be  no  less  success- 
ful than  he  had  been  against  Jericho ;  and,  to  encourage 
the  soldiers,  he  allowed  them  to  plunder  the  city,  and  to 
carry  off  the  cattle.  Accordingly,  after  having  first  placed 
a  detachment  of  five  thousand  men  in  ambush  between 
Bethel  and  Ai,  Joshua,  at  the  head  of  an  army  of  thirty 
thousand,  marched  against  the  city ;  and  as  soon  as  the 
king  of  Ai  saw  them  approaching,  he,  with  all  his  forces, 
rushed  forth  to  give  them  battle.  On  the  approach  of  the 
Aians,  the  Israelites  feigned  a  retreat,  in  order  to. draw 
them  from  the  vicinity  of  the  city  to  the  plains  below  ; 
and  as  soon  as  this  was  effected,  Joshua  gave  the  concerted 
signal  to  the  ambuscade,  who  immediately  entered  the  city, 
and,  finding  it  undefended,  set  it  on  fire.  As  the  flames 
rose  to  the  view  of  the  army  of  Israel,  Joshua  halted  in 
his  retreat,  faced  the  enemy,  and  attacked  them  with  such 
lury,  that  their  ranks  were  immediately  thrown  into  dis- 
order, and  they  compelled  to  seek  safety  in  flight.  They 
soon,  however,  beheld  tlie  flames  of  Ai  rising  above  the 
city  walls ;  and,  being  now  attacked  by  both  divisions  of 
the  Israelitish  army,  their  energies  became  at  once  para- 
lyzed,  and    over    twelve    thousand    of    them   were    slain. 


THE     JUDGES.  101 

almost  without  resistance.  The  king  himself  was  taken 
prisoner  and  himg  upon  a  gibbet,  and  the  city  was  left  a 
heap  of  ruins. 

The  brief  interval  of  rest  which  followed  this  second 
great  victory  of  Joshua  over  his  enemies,  was  appropriated 
by  him  to  the  offering  of  a  sacrifice  of  thanksgiving  to  the 
Almighty  for  the  wonderful  success  which  He  had  afforded 
him  in  his  recent  battles.  For  this  purpose  he  repaired 
to  mount  Ebal,  and  there  erected  an  altar,  upon  which,  in 
the  presence  of  the  whole  congregation  of  Israel,  he  pre- 
sented a  solemn  sacrifice  before  God.  He  then  selected 
some  of  the  most  remarkable  j)assages  of  the  law,  and 
caused  them  to  be  engraved  upon  smooth  stones ;  and 
afterwards,  while  the  vast  multitude  of  the  people  were 
still  gathered  around  the  mountains  of  Gerizim  and  Ebal, 
"  he  read  all  the  words  of  the  law,  the  blessings  and  curs-, 
ings,  according  to  all  that  is  written  in  the  book  of  the 
law.  There  was  not  a  word  of  all  that  Moses  commanded, 
which  Joshua  read  not  before  the  congregation  of  Israel, 
with  the  women  and  the  little  ones,  and  the  strangers  thai 
w^ere  conversant  among  them." 

The  remarkable  success  which  had  attended  Joshua's 
arms  against  the  cities  of  Jericho  and  Ai,  so  greatly 
alarmed  the  kings  of  many  of  the  provinces  on  the  west 
side  of  the  Jordan,  that  they  entered  into  a  confederacy 
for  their  mutual  defense.  But  the  Gibeonites,  foreseeing 
*.he  danger  to  which  they  were  exposed,  resolved  to  effect 
a  treaty  with  the  Israelites  by  stratagem.  They  selected, 
for  this  purpose,  a  number  of  the  most  artful  of  their 
countrymen,  and,  with  directions  to  pretend  to  have  come 
as  ambassadors  from  a  very  distant  land,  they  sent  them 
to  Joshua,  to  enter  into  a  treaty  with  him.  With  their  tat- 
^red  garments,  their  worn-out  shoes,  and  their  dry  and 
musty   provisions  —  all    of   which   were    assumed  —  they 


102  THE     ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

arrived  at  the  camp  of  Israel;  and,  being  presented  to 
Joshua,  they  told  him  that,  as  their  rulers  had  heard  of 
the  many  miracles  which  God  had  wrought  for  the  Israel- 
ites in  the  land  of  Egypt,  and  the  wonderful  success  with 
which  he  had  favored  their  arms  against  every  power  that 
had  opposed  them  on  their  way  to  that  country,  they  Lad 
sent  them  from  a  great  distance  to  form  a  league  of  friend- 
ship with  them.  This  plausible  story  of  the  ambassadors, 
being  entirely  sustained  by  their  exhausted  aspect,  Joshua, 
without  hesitation,  entered  into  a  treaty  of  amity  with 
them,  which  Eleazer,  the  high-priest,  and  the  princes  of 
the  several  tribes,  with  the  consent  of  the  people,  solemnly 
ratified.  Three  days  after  the  Gibeonites  had  departed 
from  the  camp  of  Israel,  however,  the  plot  and  the  impo- 
sition were  discovered ;  but,  as  the  solemnity  of  the  oath 
of  treaty  could  not  be  violated,  Joshua  determined  that, 
as  a  just  punishment  for  their  treacherous  deception,  the 
whole  nation  should  be  reduced  to  a  state  of  unconditional 
bondage. 

The  desertion  of  the  common  cause  by  the  Gibeonites, 
and  their  separate  treaty  with  the  Israelites,  was  immedi- 
ately followed  by  a  powerful  combination  between  Adoni- 
zedek,  king  of  Jebus,  Hoham,  king  of  Hebron,  Piram, 
king  of  Jarmuth,  Japhia,  king  of  Lachish,  and  Debir,  king 
of  Eglon ;  and  they  resolved  to  commence  their  warlike 
operations  against  Gibeon,  the  capital  of  their  treacherous 
neighbors,  and  utterly  destroy  the  city.  With  this  view, 
having  united  all  their  forces,  they  marched  towards  that 
place;  but,  when  the  Gibeonites  heard  of  their  design, 
conscious  of  their  own  comparative  weakness,  they  dis- 
patched a  messenger  to  Joshua,  setting  forth  their  danger, 
and  imploring  his  immediate  assistance.  As  soon  as 
Joshua  received  this  message  he  sought  counsel  of  the 
Almighty  ;  "  and  the  Lord  said  unto  him,  '  Fear  them  not, 


THE     JUDGES.  103 

for  1  have  delivered  them  into  thine  hand ;  there  shall  not 
a  man  of  thera  stand  before  thee.'  " 

Joshua,  having  received  this  Divine  assurance  of  success, 
set  his  army  immediately  in  motion  in  search  of  the  enemy; 
and,  that  no  time  might  be  lost,  he  did  not  remit  his  march, 
even  during  the  night.  Arriving  at  the  enemy's  camp  by  the 
dawn  of  the  following  morning,  he  at  once  commenced  the 
attack  upon  them ;  and  such  was  the  consternation  into 
which  they  were  all  thrown,  that,  with  little  or  no  resist- 
ance, they  betook  themselves  to  precipitate  flight.  To 
complete  their  entire  overthrow,  God,  at  the  same  time, 
showered  down  upon  them  a  violent  hail-storm,  the  stones 
of  which  were  so  large,  that  more  of  the  enemy  perished 
by  them  than  fell  by  the  sword.  It  was  on  this  memora- 
ble occasion  that  Joshua,  in  the  ardor  of  his  pursuit  of 
the  Canaanites,  entreated  of  the  Almighty,  that  the  suu 
and  moon  might  stand  still  in  the  heavens  until  he  had 
effected  their  total  destruction.  Strange  and  extraordinary 
as  this  request  was,  yet  God  was  pleased  to  grant  it;  "and 
the  sun  stood  still,  and  the  moon  stayed,  until  the  people 
had  avenged  themselves  upon  their  enemies — the  sun  stood 
still  in  the  midst  of  heaven,  and  hasted  not  to  go  down 
about  a  whole  day ;  and  there  was  no  day  like  that  before 
it  or  after  it,  that  the  Lord  hearkened  unto  the  voice  of  a 
man ;  for  the  Lord  fought  for  Israel." 

After  this  signal  victory,  Joshua  marched  into  the  south- 
ern parts  of  Canaan;  and,  having  subdued  the  country 
and  destroyed  the  inhabitants,  he  returned  with  his  victori- 
ous army  to  his  camp  at  Gilgal.  He  was  not,  how- 
ever, permitted  to  enjoy  a  long  repose ;  for,  his  rapid 
conquests,  and  the  total  destruction  of  the  enemy, 
spread  such  terror  throughout  those  parts  of  the  land  of 
Canaan  which  still  remained  unsubdued,  that  a  new  and 
formidable  combination  was  formed  against  Israel,  insti- 


104  THE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

gated  by  Jabin,  king  of  Hazor.  The  vast  army  which 
they  raised,  did  not,  however,  in  the  least  degTee,  intimi- 
date Joshua ;  for,  under  the  direction  of  the  Almighty,  he 
immediately  took  the  field,  marched  towards  the  enemy, 
and  attacked  them  so  suddenly,  that  they  were  thrown 
into  the  utmost  confusion,  and  all  slain  except  a  very  few, 
who  escaped  into  a  distant  part  of  the  country.  Jabin, 
the  leader  of  the  confederacy,  was  taken  prisoner  and  put 
to  death ;  and  his  capital,  the  city  of  Hazor,  was  burned 
to  the  ground.  The  destruction  of  this  powerful  combina- 
tion against  Israel,  was  soon  followed  by  the  submission 
of  the  whole  of  the  land  of  Canaan,  the  death  of  thirty- 
one  kings  having  attended  the  last  contest.  Even  the 
children  of  Anak,  those  giants  who  had  formerly  been  so 
great  a  terror  to  the  Israelites,  were  all  destroyed,  with 
the  exception  of  those  that  dwelt  in  Gaza,  Gath,  and 
Ashdod. 

Joshua,  having  thus  conquered  the  central  and  most 
important  parts  of  the  land  of  Canaan,  resolved  to  divide 
the  country  amongst  the  different  tribes  that  were  still 
unprovided  for,  and  to  dismiss  the  members  of  the  tribes 
of  Reuben  and  Gad,  and  the  half  tribe  of  Manasseh,  who 
had  assisted  him  in  his  conquests,  to  the  settlements  which 
Moses  had  assigned  them,  on  the  east  side  of  the  Jordan. 
With  this  view  he  appointed  commissioners  to  survey  the 
land ;  and  these,  at  the  expiration  of  seven  months,  com- 
pleted their  task,  and  presented  their  report,  immediately 
after  which  Joshua,  assisted  by  Eleazer,  the  high-priest, 
the  princes  of  the  tribes,  and  the  elders  of  the  people,  dis- 
tributed the  whole  country  as  God  had  commanded;  say- 
ing, "  Unto  these  the  land  shall  be  divided  for  an  inherit- 
ance, according  to  the  number  of  names.  To  many,  thou 
shalt  give  the  more  inheritance ;  and  to  few  thou  shalt 
give  the  less  inheritance.     Notwithstanding,  the  land  shaU 


THE     JUDGES  105 

be  divided  by  lot :  according  to  lot  shall  the  possession 
thereof  be  divided  between  many  and  few." 

This  distribution  of  the  land  of  Canaan  among  the 
different  tribes  being  made  by  lot,  it  is  remarkable, 
that  to  each  tribe  fell  a  portion  of  the  country  exactly 
corresponding  with  previously-uttered  prophecies  by  Jacob 
and  Moses.  To  the  tribe  of  Judah,  fell  a  section  of  coun- 
try abounding  in  vines  and  pasture-grounds ;  to  that  of 
Asher,  one  plenteous  in  oil,  iron,  and  brass ;  to  that  of 
Naphtali,  one  extending  from  the  west  to  the  south  of  Jor- 
dan ;  to  that  of  Benjamin,  the  land  in  which  the  temple 
was  afterwards  built;  to  those  of  Zebulun  and  Issachar, 
such  as  had  plenty  of  sea-ports ;  and  to  those  of  Ephraim 
and  Manasseh,  such  as  were  renowned  for  their  precious 
fruits.  The  inheritance  of  the  tribe  of  l)an  lay  in  the 
extreme  south  of  the  conquered  territory,  and  was  well 
adapted  to  their  warlike  habits  and  propensities.  To  the 
tribes  of  Simeon  and  Levi,  no  particula.r  inheritance  was 
given — the  former  having  a  portion  with  Judah,  and  the 
latter  being  interspersed  among  the  other  tribes. 

Having  thus  settled  the  tribes  of  Israel  in  their  new 
possessions,  Joshua  selected  for  his  own  inheritance, 
Timnath-serah,  in  mount  Ephraim,  and  there  built  a  city, 
which  he  made  the  pitn.e  of  his  future  abode.  Upon 
Caleb,  his  early  and  tried  companion,  he,  at  the  same 
time,  bestowed  Hebron,  a  city  which  was  taken  from  the 
sons  of  Anak.  About  the  same  time  Shiloh  was  selected 
as  the  place  to  which  the  tribes  of  Israel  should  resort  for 
Divine  worship ;  and  at  this  place,  accordingly,  all  Israel 
assembled,  and  there  set  up  the  Tabernacle  of  the  Congre- 
gation. 

Seven  years  had  now  elapsed  since  the  Israelites  com- 
menced the  conquest  of  Canaan ;  and,  the  war  being 
happily  ended,  Joshua  called  together,  at  Shiloh,  the 
5* 


106  THE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

auxiliaries  furnished  by  the  tribes  of  Reuben  and  Gad, 
and  the  half  tribe  of  Manasseh,  and,  after  highly  com- 
mending them  for  their  fidelity  and  valor,  earnestly 
exhorted  them,  as  they  were  now  about  to  be  separated 
from  the  Tabernacle,  to  be  faithful  in  their  duty  to  God, 
and  ever  to  bear  in  mind  those  laws  which  he  had  given 
them  by  his  servant  Moses.  He  then  affectionately  dis- 
missed them,  to  join  their  respective  tribes  on  the  east  side 
of  the  river  Jordan,  and,  at  the  same  time,  recommended 
that,  when  they  should  reach  their  homes,  they  should 
share  the  rich  spoils  which  they  carried  back  with  them, 
equally  with  their  brethren,  who,  though  they  had  taken 
no  part  in  the  war,  had  Btill  protected  their  families  during 
their  absence. 

During  the  ten  years  that  followed,  Joshua  resided  in  the 
midst  of  his  people ;  and  as,  throughout  this  whole  period, 
they  venerated  their  pious  leader,  and  were  obedient  to  the 
laws  of  God,  it  was,  perhaps,  the  most  peaceful  and  pros- 
perous period  that  the  nation  ever  enjoyed.  The  days  of 
Joshua  now,  however,  began  to  draw  to  a  close ;  and,  as 
he  perceived  his  end  approaching,  he  called  together  the 
princes,  the  elders,  and  all  the  tribes  of  Israel,  at  Shechem, 
and  addressed  them  in  the  most  solemn  and  impressive 
manner,  reminding  them  of  the  various  ways  in  which  the 
Almighty  had  preserved  them  in  the  midst  of  impending 
dangers  —  not  only  relieving  their  wants  and  removing 
their  distresses,  but  even  raising  them  from  the  most  abject 
condition  in  life,  to  one  full  of  prosperity  and  happiness. 
In  gratitude  to  so  great  a  Protector  and  Benefactor,  he 
exhorted  them  to  a  faithful  observance  of  his  laws,  and 
urged  them  to  renew  the  covenant  with  him,  into  which  their 
fathers  had  once  entered.  To  all  this  they  readily  con- 
sented. "  And  Joshua  wrote  these  words  in  the  book  of 
the  law  )f  God,  and  took  a  great  stone  and  set  it  up  there, 


THE     JUDGES.  lOr 

under  an  oak  that  was  by  the  sanctuary  of  the  Lord.  And 
Joshua  said  unto  all  the  people,  'Behold,  this  stone  shall 
be  a  witness  unto  us :  for  it  hath  heard  all  the  words  of 
the  Lord,  which  he  hath  spoken  unto  us :  and  it  shall, 
therefore,  be  a  witness  unto  us,  lest  ye  deny  your  God.'  " 
A  short  time  after  this  solemn  assemblage  of  the  peo- 
ple, in  1434  A.  C,  Joshua  died,  being  one  hundred  and 
ten  years  old,  and  was  buried  at  Timnath-serah,  in  mount 
Ephraim.  "  And  Israel  served  the  Lord  all  the  days  of 
Joshua,  and  all  the  days  of  the  elders  that  overlived 
Joshua,  and  which  had  known  all  the  works  of  the  Lord, 
that  he  had  done  for  Israel."  About  the  same  time, 
Eleazer,  the  high-priest,  also  died,  and  was  buried  in  one 
of  the  hills  of  mount  Ephraim,  which  belonged  to  his  son 
and  successor  Phineas.  The  death  and  burial  of  those 
two  distinguished  leaders,  reminded  the  Israelites  of  the 
•'ones  of  Joseph,  which  they  had  brought  with  them  out 
«f  Egypt;  and  they  buried  them  also,  with  the  utmost 
X)lemnity,  in  Shechem,  where  Jacob  had  purchased  a  piece 
of  ground  of  the  sons  of  Hamor,  and  which  afterwards 
became  the  inheritance  of  Joseph's  posterity. 


SECTION   II. 

Limits  of  Canaan — The  Government  a  pure  Theocracy — Mistaken 
Lenity  of  the  Israelites  —  Apostasy  of  the  Tribe  of  Dan  —  Conse- 
quences that  followed  —  Illustrative  Incidents  —  The  Case  of  the 
Apostate  Priest — The  Case  of  the  Levite  of  Mount  Ephraim — Sue-' 
cess  of  the  Tribe  of  Judah— Deplorable  Condition  of  the  Tribe  of 
Benjamin — Their  Restoration, 

The  land  of  Canaan,  which  God  had  promised  to 
Abraham  and  his  posterity,  and  which  Joshua,  as 
we  have  seen,  parcelled  out  among  the  twelve  tribes 
of  Israel,  extended,  from  north  to  south,  about  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty  miles^  an     "Jig^ty  miles  from  east  to  west. 


108  T  11  E     A  N  C  I  E  N  T      H  E  B  R  E  W  S  . 

The  northern  boundary  of  the  country,  was  Lebanon  and 
Syria ;  the  soutljern,  Edom  and  the  wilderness  of  Paran ; 
the  eastern,  Arabia  Deserta,  Ammon,  Moab,  and  Midian ; 
and  the  western  and  southwestern,  the  Mediterranean  sea 
and  Egypt.  This  only,  was  properly  called  Canaan,  and 
was  all  that  was  promised  to  the  Israelites  as  a  possession  ; 
but  if  we  embrace  the  whole  territory  which,  in  the  fifteenth 
chapter  of  Genesis,  and  the  twenty-third  chapter  of  Exodus, 
was  promised  to  them  in  dominion,  we  must  include  the 
entire  region,  from  the  river  Euphrates  on  the  northeast, 
to  the  river  Nile  on  the  southwest. 

The  government  instituted  by  Moses  and  Joshua,  for 
the  Israelites,  was  a  pure  Theocracy,  and  was  to  be  ad- 
ministered by  a  succession  of  judges,  to  be  appointed  by 
God  himself,  as  he  might  require  their  services.  Much 
of  the  land  of  Canaan,  however,  was  still  in  the  hands 
of  enemies  that  must  be  subdued  before  the  children  of 
Israel  could  quietly  enjoy  their  new  possessions ;  and,  as 
no  leader  had  yet  been  designated  to  succeed  Joshua,  the 
princes  of  the  different  tribes  repaired  to  Shiloh,  to  make 
inquiry  of  the  Almighty  relative  to  the  manner  in  which 
the  war  should  be  prosecuted.  The  reply  of  the  Lord 
was,  that  Judah  should  renew  the  contest;  but,  as  the 
inheritance  of  Simeon  was  identified  with  that  of  Judah, 
they  resolved  to  unite  their  forces  till  the  conquest  should 
be  completed. 

The  unsubdued  Canaanites  were  both  numerous  and 
powerful ;  and,  with  a  large  army  under  the  command  of 
Adoni-bezek,  king  of  Bezek,  they  prepared  to  encounter 
the  dread(3d  foe  then  marching  against  them.  Their  chief 
expectation  of  success,  was  based  upon  the  death  of  Joshua; 
but  they  soon  realized  that  the  same  Divine  arm  strength- 
ened Judah  and  Simeon,  that  had  sustained  Israel's  previ- 
ous leader;  for  the  two  tribes  attacked  them  with  «*nch 


THE     JUDGES,  109 

detei  mined  resolution,  that  the  Canaanites  immediately, 
gave  way,  and  more  than  ten  thousand  of  their  number 
were  left  dead  upon  the  field  of  battle.  Those  that  wer^ 
not  slain,  took  to  flight ;  but,  being  closely  pursued,  com- 
paratively few  of  them  escaped.  Adoni-bezek  himself  was 
taken  prisoner;  and,  being  brouglit  before  the  elders  of 
the  two  tribes,  they  ordered  his  thumbs  and  great  toes  to 
be  cut  off — a  punishment  which  he  was  accustomed  to 
inflict  upon  such  prisoners  as.  the  previous  chances  of  war 
had  thrown  into  his  power — and  then  sent  him  prisoner  to 
Jebus,  afterwards  Jerusalem,  where  he  soon  after  died. 

The  tribes  of  Judah  and  Simeon,  flushed  with  this 
signal  triumph,  immediately  resolved  to  drive  out  all  the 
remaining  Canaanites  from  their  territory;  and  they,  there- 
fore, engaged  in  many  successive  expeditions  against  those 
who  dwelt  in  the  mountains,  and  those  who  occupied  the 
southern  section  of  the  country,  in  all  of  which  they  were 
so  successful,  as  to  enable  them  to  extend  their  conquests 
quite  into  the  land  of  the  Philistines.  They  even  took 
that  part  of  Jebus  which  lay  within  the  borders  of  their 
inheritance;  but  "  they  could  not  drive  out  the  inhabitants 
of  the  valley,  because  they  had  chariots  of  iron." 

Following  the  example  of  Judah  and  Simeon,  the  tribe 
of  Ephraim  also,  resolved  to  expel  the  Canaanites  from 
their  inheritance.  With  this  view,  they  sent  two  spies  to 
ascertain  the  condition  of  Bethel,  the  chief  city  of  the 
enemy,  and  which  had  previously  been  called  Luz.  As 
the  spies  approached  the  city,  they  saw  a  man  coming  out 
of  it,  and  having  taken  him  captive,  they  threatened  to 
put  him  to  death  unless  he  would  inform  them  in  what 
way  the  place  might  be  most  successfully  approached. 
The  man,  to  save  his  life,  gave  them  the  information  they 
required ;  and  the  spies,  communicating  to  the  army  the 
intelligence   thus  received,  the  city  was  at  once  entered^ 


110  THE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

and  all  the  inhabitants,  excepting  the  man  who  had  been 
their  informer,  were  put  to  the  sword.  The  tribe  of  Ma- 
nasseh  was  not,  however,  so  successful  in  driving  out  the 
people  who  still  continued  to  occupy  parts  of  their  inherit- 
ance ;  for,  in  many  places  within  their  borders,  the  Canaan- 
ites  continued  to  dwell,  and  could  not  be  expelled. 

Within  the  inheritance  of  all  the  remaining  tribes,  also, 
were  many  places  from  which  the  enemy  were  not  dis- 
lodged ;  and  the  tribe  of  Benjamin  even  allowed  the 
Jebusites  to  retain  possession  of  many  of  their  cities  in 
such  proximity  to  them,  that  the  two  nations  continued  to 
live,  for  a  long  time,  in  amity  with  each  other.  This  mis 
taken  lenity,  and  the  want  of  resolution  with  which  the 
Israelites  now  began  to  meet  their  enemies,  were  highly 
displeasing  to  the  Almighty ;  and  he,  therefore,  sent  the 
Angel  of  the  Covenant,  who  had  accompanied  them  in  all 
their  journeyings  through  the  wilderness,  and  who  had 
appeared  to  Joshua  immediately  after  he  entered  the  land 
of  Canaan,  to  expostulate  with  them  for  their  disobedient 
conduct — to  remind  them  of  his  goodness  in  delivering 
them  from  the  oppression  of  Egypt,  and  bringing  them 
into  that  happy  land ;  of  the  exact  performance  of  all  his 
promises  to  them ;  and  of  their  base  ingratitude  in  disre- 
garding his  precepts. 

This  severe  reproof  from  the  messenger  of  the  Almighty, 
so  deeply  affected  the  minds  of  the  Israelites,  that,  conscious 
of  their  transgressions,  they  immediately  fell  into  a  general 
lamentation  ;  and,  deploring  the  wretchedness  of  their  con- 
dition, they  at  once  offered  sacrifice  to  God,  in  order  to 
appease  his  wrath,  and,  if  possible,  restore  themselves  to 
his  favor.  In  remembrance  of  this  circumstance,  they 
called  the  place  where  the  angel  appeared  to  them,  Bo- 
chim,  or  iveeping.  This  repentance  of  the  Israelites 
was,    however,    sincere  in  appearance   only;    for,  instead 


THE     JUDGES.  Ill 

of  amending  their  conduct,  they  grew  worse  and  worse, 
and  eventually  gave  themselves  up  to  all  manner  of  dissi- 
pation— increasing  their  correspondence  with  the  Canaan- 
ites  ;  indulging  in  their  loose  conversation  ;  intermarrying 
with  them  ;  and  even  joining  in  their  idolatrous  worship 
of  Baal  and  Ashtaroth. 

In  this  general  degeneracy  of  the  Israelites,  the  tribe 
of  Dan  totally  apostatized.  The  inheritance  allotted  to 
them  in  the  distribution  of  Canaan  among  the  different 
tribes,  was  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  the  Amor- 
ites ;  and  those  powerful  enemies  not  being  willing  that 
they  siiould  occupy  the  beautiful  vallies  that  had  been 
assigned  to  them,  drove  them  up  into  the  adjacent  moun- 
tains. The  Danites,  after  having  remained  for  some  time 
among  the  mountains,  finally  resolved  to  seek  a  new  set- 
tlement ;  and,  with  this  view,  they  sent  forth  from  their 
number  five  spies  to  examine  the  surrounding  country,  in 
order  to  ascertain  where  such  settlement  might  be  most 
readily  effected.  These  spies,  while  on  their  exploring  mis- 
sion, came  to  the  house  of  a  noted  ^idolater  named  Micah, 
who  dwelt  in  mount  Ephraim,  and  in  whose  employment 
they  found  a  young  Levite,  who  officiated  as  his  priest. 
Having  been  generously  entertained  by  Micah,  and  en- 
couraged in  their  expedition  by  the  false  priest,  they  pur- 
sued their  journey  till  they  came  to  Laish,  and,  observing 
that  the  people  of  this  city  were  careless  and  undisciplined, 
they  at  once  perceived  that  there  w^ould  be  no  difficulty  in 
conquering  them  and  taking  possession  of  the  place. 

As,  in  the  vicinity  of  the  city,  the  country  was  ex- 
tremely pleasant  and  productive,  and  abounded  in  all  the 
necessaries  of  life,  it  afforded  an  additional  incentive  to 
the  undertaking;  and  the  spies,  therefore,  on  their  return 
to  their  brethren,  urged  that  an  expedition  be  immediately 
sent  forward  to   the  conquest.      Six  hundred  men  were, 


112  THE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

accordingly,  selected  for  this  purpose ;  and  on  their  way 
towards  Laish,  they  passed  over  mount  Ephraim,  stopped 
at  the  house  of  Micah,  and  stole  from  it  the  ephod  and 
the  images  which  the  spies  had  there  seen  on  their  first 
visit,  in  order  that  they  might  have  them  with  them  to 
consult  on  future  occasions.  They  also  induced  the  young 
Levite,  by  promising  to  make  him  priest  of  their  whole 
tribe,  to  accompany  them  in  their  expedition. 

Having  thus  robbed  the  house  of  their  host  of  his  instru- 
ments of  idolatry,  and  drawn  away  his  priest  from  him, 
the  Danites  pursued  their  march  towards  Laish,  which 
they  reached  at  tlie  expiration  of  three  days ;  and,  finding 
the  city  entirely  unguarded,  they  easily  effected  an  entrance, 
burnt  it  to  the  ground,  and  destroyed  all  the  inhabitants. 
They  then  took  possession  of  the  surrounding  country, 
and  soon  after  rebuilt  the  city,  and  called  it  Dan,  after  the 
father  of  their  tribe.  Here  they  now  set  up  the  iniages 
which  they  had  stolen  from  Micah,  and,  in  accordance 
with  their  promise,  they  made  the  young  Levite,  whose 
name  was  Jonathan,  their  priest.  In  this  state  of  idola- 
trous worship,  the  tribe  of  Dan  remained  until  the  Ark  of 
God  was  taken,  in  the  days  of  Eli,  by  the  Philistines — a 
period  of  not  less  than  three  hundred  years. 

The  general  apostasy  of  the  Israelites  from  their  Maker 
was  soon  followed  by  the  grossest  immorality ;  for,  where 
riot  and  dissipation  prevail,  all  moral  obligations  soon 
come  to  be  entirely  disregarded.  As  an  illustration  of 
this  remark,  in  its  application  to  the  period  of  Israelitish 
history  before  us,  we  need  only  mention  the  following  inci- 
dent, and  its  consequences  : — 

In  mount  Ephraim  resided  a  certain  Levite  who  had 
married  a  woman  of  the  city  of  Bethlehem,  and  of  the 
tribe  of  Judah.  This  woman,  after  having  lived  for  some 
time  with  her  husband,  resolved  to  leave  him  and  return  to 


THE     JUDGES.  113; 

her  father's  house.  The  Levite  patiently  bore  the  absence 
of  his  wife  for  four  months ;  but,  at  the  expiration  of  that 
time,  he  resolved  to  go  to  Bethlehem  and  bring  her  home. 
At  the  house  of  his  father-in-law,  he  was  received  with  the 
greatest  kindness  ;  and,  after  having  passed  a  few  days 
there  in  social  enjoyment  with  the  family,  he  prepared  to 
return,  with  his  wife,  to  his  own  abode.  Having  reached, 
on  his  journey  homeward,  Gibeah,  a  city  belonging  to 
the  tribe  of  Benjamin,  he  was  there  entertained  for  the 
night  by  an  aged  man  of  the  tribe  of  Ephraim.  During 
their  evening  repast,  a  number  of  abandoned  young  men 
of  the  city  beset  the  house,  and  finally  carried  away  by 
force  the  wife  of  the  Levite  to  their  own  quarters,  where 
they  kept  her  until  the  following  morning,  and  during  the 
night  treated  her  with  the  utmost  indecency. 

The  woman,  as  soon  as  she  was  released,  returned  to 
her  husband ;  but,  so  overwhelming  w^as  her  anguish,  that 
she  had  no  sooner  reached  the  house  than  she  fell  on  the 
floor  and  expired.  The  Levite,  after  some  deliberation, 
placed  the  dead  body  upon  an  ass,  and  conveyed  it  to 
his  own  house ;  immediately  after  which,  he  separated  it 
into  twelve  equal  parts,  and  sent,  with  an  explanatory 
message,  one  part  to  each  of  the  twelve  tribes.  The 
several  tribes  had  no  sooner  received  intelligence  of  this 
heinous  outrage,  than  they  called  a  general  assembly  at 
Mizpeh,  near  Shiloh,  and  resolved  to  demand  of  the  Cen- 
jamites  suitable  reparation  for  the  insult  and  injury  that 
had  been  offered  to  the  Levite' s  wife.  They  accordingly 
sent  messengers  to  Gibeah,  and  to  all  the  other  settlements 
of  the  tribe,  and,  representing  the  enormity  of  the  offense 
to  them,  required  that  the  guilty  young  men  should  be 
delivered  up  for  punishment.  To  this  demand  the  in- 
habitants of  Gibeah,  and  all  the  other  Benjamites,  returned 
a  positive  refusal  j  intimating,  at  the  same  time,  that  they 


114  THE     ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

were  fully  prepared  to  meet  all  the  consequences  whicb 
mig-ht  ensue  from  their  determination  to  defend  their  fel- 
low  citizens,  and  that  they  wanted  neither  the  courage,  the 
skill,  nor  the  numbers,  to  do  so. 

When  the  messengers  returned  with  this  answer,  the 
tribes  which  had  sent  them  were  so  enraged,  that  they  not 
only  resolved  to  march  immediately  against  Gibeah,  but 
made  a  vow,  also,  that  none  of  their  tribes  should  thence- 
forth intermarry  with  the  tribe  of  Benjamin.  Preparatory 
to  the  execution  of  their  resolution,  they  consulted  the 
Divine  oracle ;  not,  however,  to  ascertain  whether  they 
should  undertake  the  w^ar,  but  simply  to  know  which  of 
the  tribes  should  lead  the  van.  The  tribe  of  Judah  being 
designated  for  this  position,  the  combined  forces  immedi- 
ately took  the  field,  with  an  army  of  four  hundred  thou- 
sand men;  while  that  of  the  Benjamites  consisted  of 
only  twenty-six  thousand  regular  troops,  besides  seven 
hundi-ed  slingers  who  were  particularly  distinguished  for 
their  skill  as  marksmen.  The  two  armies  met  on  a  plain 
near  Giteah,  and,  in  the  battle  which  ensued,  twenty-two 
thousand  of  the  combined  troops  fell,  while  the  loss  of  the 
Benjamites  was  comparatively  trifling.  Night  interven- 
ing, the  action  was  not,  however,  decisive ;  and  the  com- 
bined army,  accordingly,  drew  up  their  forces  on  the 
following  morning,  and  again  offered  the  Benjamites  bat- 
tle. Elated  with  the  success  of  the  previous  day,  tbo 
latter  now  marched  to  the  conflict  with  such  intrepidity, 
and  commenced  the  action  so  boldly,  that  the  former  were 
immediately  thrown  into  confusion,  and  before  they  could 
rally  their  forces,  eighteen  thousand  more  of  them  were 
slain. 

These  two  successive  defeats  spread  such  consternation 
through  the  whole  of  the  combined  army,  that  they  imme- 
diately disbanded,  repaired  to  Shiloh,  and  passed  a  whole 


THE     JUDGES.  115 

day  in  weeping  and  fasting,  and  in  presenting  burnt-offer- 
ings and  peace-offerings  to  ttie  Lord.  Having  thus  properly 
humbled  themselves  before  the  Almighty,  they  again  asked 
of  God  whether  they  should  renew  the  attack,  and  were 
answered  by  the  mouth  of  Phineas,  the  high-priest,  that 
they  should;  and  they  were  farther  informed  that  they 
should  now  be  successful.  Animated  by  this  encourage- 
ment, they  at  once  sent  against  Gibeah  an  army  of  ten 
thousand  choice  troops;  and,  with  an  ambuscade,  similar 
to  that  which  Joshua  used  in  the  destruction  of  Ai,  so 
thoroughly  overthrew  the  Benjamites,  that,  of  their 
whole  tribe,  only  six  hundred  men  escaped  the  general 
carnage.  These  fled  to  a  remote  part  of  the  wilderness, 
and  there  sought  security  in  the  rock  or  fortress  of  Kim- 
mon. 

When  the  combined  tribes  came  to  reflect  upon  the 
severity  with  which  they  had  treated  the  Benjamites, 
and  to  recollect  the  rash  vow  they  had  made  respecting 
intermarriages  with  them,  they  were  so  greatly  distressed 
that  they  immediately  repaired  to  Shiloh,  and,  prostrating 
themselves  before  the  Ark  of  the  Covenant,  exclaimed, 
"  0  Lord  God  of  Israel,  why  is  this  come  to  pass  in  Israel, 
that  there  should  be  to-day  one  tribe  lacking  in  Israel  f 
On  the  following  morning,  they  came  at  an  unusually  early 
hour,  built  an  altar,  and  offered  on  it  sacrifices  to  the  Lord. 
Having  done  this,  and  having  also  resolved  to  recruit  the 
fallen  tribe,  the  next  question  was,  to  determine  in  what 
manner  this  should  be  done.  Their  vow  was  inviolate, 
and  registered  on  high ;  and,  therefore,  recourse  must  be 
had  to  some  other  means  than  the  giving  to  the  fugitives 
their  own  daughters  in  marriage. 

After  much  anxiety  and  deep  reflection,  the  remem- 
brance of  a  determination  which  they  had  formed  at  the 
commencement  of  fhe  war,  came  to  their  minds;  which 


116  THE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

was,  to  put  all  to  the  sword  who  would  not  join  the 
general  league  against  the  Benjamites.  An  investigation 
was,  therefore,  instituted,  in  order  to  ascertain  Avhether 
any  such  could  be  found;  when  it  appeared  that  the  people 
of  Jabesh-Gilead  had  not  complied  with  the  general  requi- 
fiition.  Thither,  accordingly,  twelve  thousand  men  were 
dispatched,  with  strict  orders  to  put  every  man,  woman, 
and  child  they  should  find  in  the  city,  to  the  sword,  with 
the  exception  of  such  virgins  as  were  then  marriageable. 
These  orders  were  but  too  faithfully  executed ;  and,  of 
marriagable  virgins,  four  hundred  were  brought  away  from 
the  city,  and  bestowed  upon  the  Benjamites.  Two  hun 
dred  of  the  small  fragment  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin, 
which  now  caused  so  much  solicitude,  were  still,  however, 
unprovided  for;  and,  that  they  also  might  be  furnished 
with  wives,  an  equal  number  of  the  young  women  who 
came  up  annually  to  dance  at  Shiloh,  were  seized  and  pre- 
sented to  them;  and  thus  the  Benjamites,  though  very 
few  in  number,  were  restored  to  their  original  position 
among  their  brethren  of  the  other  tribes.  They  now 
resumed  the  possession  of  their  own  country,  and  eventu- 
ally so  far  increased,  as  to  be  little  inferior,  either  in  num- 
bers or  in  wealth,  to  their  former  position. 


SECTION    III 


Israel  oppressed  by  the  Kinjy  of  Mesopotamia — Othniel  their  Deliver- 
er— His  Administration — Israel  Oppressed  bv  the  Moabites — Deliver- 
ed by  Ehud— The  Rebellious  Spirit  of  the  People— Shamg a r  judges 
Israel — The  Enterprise  of  Deborah  and  Barak  —  The  Successfii. 
Administration  of  Deborah— A  Dreadful  Famine  visits  the  Land— 
The  Story  of  Naomi  and  Ruth— Boaz  and  Ruth  the  Grand-parents  of 
David. 

The  civil  and  intestine  quarrels  among  the  Israelites,  to 
which  we  have  just  alluded,  kept  them,  for  a  time,  con- 


THE     JUDGES.  117 

scions  of  their  dependance  upon  their  Maker;  but  these 
had  no  sooner  been  brought  to  a  close,  than  the  people 
ao-ain  relapsed  into  their  idolatrous  and  other  vicious 
practices.  This  proneness  to  vice,  evinced  by  them  on  all 
occasions,  now  so  aggravated  the  Almighty,  that  he  with- 
drew his  Divine  protection  from  them,  and  allowed  them, 
as  a  just  punishment  for  their  sins,  to  fall  under  the  oppres- 
sive yoke  of  their  foreign  enemies. 

The  first  of  these  enemies  that  oppressed  the  IsraeUtes, 
after  they  had  lost  the  favor  and  protection  of  God,  was 
Chushan-rishathaim,  king  of  Mesopotamia.  This  monarch, 
having  invaded  their  territories,  made  an  easy  conquest  of 
the  whole  country,  and  imposed  a  burthensome  tribute  upon 
them,  under  the  weight  of  which  they  groaned  for  eight  tedi- 
ous years.  This  state  of  servitude  becoming  continually 
more  and  more  irksome  to  them,  at  length  brought  the 
Israelites  to  a  proper  sense  and  acknowledgment  of  their 
transgressions ;  and  they,  therefore,  earnestly  implored  the 
Almighty  to  relieve  them  from  the  yoke  of  their  oppres- 
sors. To  their  earnest  prayer,  God  was  graciously  pleased 
to  listen;  for  their  penitence  awakened  his  compassion 
towards  them,  and  "  it  repented  the  Lord  because  of  their 
groanings,  by  reason  of  them  that  oppressed  them,  and 
vexed  them." 

The  deliverer  whom  God,  at  this  time,  raised  up  for 
the  Israelites,  was  Othniel,  the  nephew  and  son-in-law  of 
Caleb,  the  early  companion  of  Joshua.  This  young  hero 
had  remarkably  distinguished  himself  in  the  war  which 
Caleb  waged  against  the  Canaanites  to  secure  the  posses- 
sion of  his  inheritance ;  and  now,  under  Divine  direction, 
he  summoned  the  people  to  arms,  boldly  marched  against 
the  king  of  Mesopotamia  and  dispatched  him ;  and,  having 
thus  released  the  Israelites  from  their  servitude,  settled 
•  them  in  a  state  of  independence,  peace,  and  tranquillity. 


118  THE     ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

During  the  forty  years  of  prosperity  which  followed  this  great 
deliverance,  Othniel  governed  the  people,  and  was  the  first 
whom  the  Scriptures  designate  as  the  "Judges  of  Israel." 

The  mild  and  equitable  administration  of  Othniel  had 
no  sooner  been  brought  to  a  close  by  his  death,  than  the 
Israelites  began  to  neglect  their  duty  to  their  God,  and  to 
disregard  his  laws  and  ordinances,  as  established  by  Moses. 
The  profligacy  amongst  them  which  followed,  being  soon 
noticed  by  their  enemies,  Eglon,  king  of  the  Moabites, 
marched  an  army  into  their  country,  and,  in  a  short  time, 
reduced  most  of  the  tribes  to  a  state  of  absolute  vas- 
salage. To  secure  his  conquest,  he  soon  after  built  a 
palace  at  Jericho,  and,  for  eighteen  years,  caused  the 
Israelites  to  groan  under  the  severity  of  his  exactions. 
At  length,  however,  they  became  thoroughly  sensible  of 
their  miserable  condition  ;  and,  earnestly  desirous  of  being 
released  from  it,  they  addressed  themselves,  in  the  most 
solemn  manner,  to  the  Almighty,  beseeching  him  to  deliver 
them  from  the  state  of  bondage  and  oppression,  which  they 
had  been  compelled,  so  long,  to  endure.  To  this  pathetic 
appeal,  God  was  pleased  favorably  to  listen ;  and  he, 
accordingly,  raised  them  up  a  deliverer,  in  the  person  of 
EiiUD,  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin. 

It  had  no  sooner  been  intimated  to  Ehud  that  he  was  to 
become  the  leader  of  the  Israelites,  than  he  resolved  to 
devise  some  plan  to  relieve  his  countrymen  from  Moabit- 
ish  oppression.  With  this  view,  having  first  secured  the 
appointment  of  messenger  to  carry  to  Eglon  the  annual 
tribute  exacted  from  his  nation,  in  the  form  of  a  present, 
he  prepared  a  dagger,  and  concealed  it  under  his  outer 
garment,  that,  when  brought  into  the  presence  of  the 
king,  he  might  assassinate  him ;  for  he  well  knew  that  his 
brethren  would  be  better  able  to  contend  with  the  Moab- 
ites, if  the  latter  were  destitute  of  a  leader,  than  if  their 


THE     JUDGES.  119 

king  were  still  living.  Having,  with  this  preparation, 
arrived  at  Jericho,  and  being  at  once  admitted  into  the 
royal  presence,  he  presented  the  present,  or  token  of 
submission,  with  which  he  had  been  intrusted.  This 
being  done,  he  informed  the  king  that  he  had  a  mes- 
sage also  for  him  from  God,  but  that  the  delivery  of  it 
required  the  utmost  privacy.  When  Eglon  heard  this 
announcement,  he  ordered  all  his  attendants  to  leave  the 
apartment;  and  Ehud,  being  thus  left  alone  with  the  king, 
drew  his  dagger  from  its  place  of  concealment,  and  in- 
stantly stabbed  him  to  the  heart,  immediately  after  which, 
he  closed  and  fastened  the  door  of  the  apartment,  and 
then  in  safety  escaped  to  Seirath. 

Having  thus  slain  the  king  of  Moab,  Ehud  immediately 
repaired  to  mount  Ephraim,  and,  assembling  the  people  by 
sound  of  trumpet,  he  related  to  them  all  the  particulars 
attending  the  death  of  Eglon,  and  directed  them  to  prepare 
for  the  approaching  conflict,  and  follow  him;  "for,"  said 
he,  "  the  Lord  hath  delivered  your  enemies,  the  Moabites, 
into  your  hands."  The  Israelites  readily  obeyed  the  com- 
mand of  Ehud ;  and,  having  first  secured  all  the  passes 
that  led  from  Moab  towards  the  river  Jordan,  they 
marched,  with  all  expedition,  to  Jericho,  and  while  the 
people  of  that  city  were  in  the  utmost  confusion  on 
account  of  the  death  of  their  king,  the  Israelites  suddenly 
attacked  them,  and  before  any  sensible  resistance  could  be 
made,  ten  thousand  of  the  Moabites  were  slain.  By  this 
signal  victory,  the  Israelites  were  delivered  out  of  the 
hands  of  the  Moabites ;  and,  from  that  time,  during  the 
eight  following  years,  the  people,  under  the  administration 
of  Ehud,  enjoyed  peace  and  prosperity. 

About  the  same  time  that  the  Israelites  who  dwelt  in 
the  eastern  part  of  the  country,  were  relieved  from  their 
oppressors  by  the  wisdom  and  valor  of  Ehud,  those  who 


120  THE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

inhabited  the  western  parts,  and  Avho  had  been,  for  some 
time,  greatly  annoyed  by  the  constant  incursions  of  the 
Phihstines,  were  extricated  out  of  their  difficulties  also, 
by  SiiAMGAR,  the  son  of  Anath — a  man  of  most  extraordi- 
nary strength  and  resolution.  With  no  other  weapon  than 
an  ox-goad,  he,  unaided  and  alone,  attacked  a  large  body  of 
the  Philistines,  and,  notwithstanding  their  great  personal 
prowess,  slew  no  less  than  six  hundreds  of  them.  This  ex- 
traordinary act  of  valor  so  greatly  terrified  the  rest  of  the 
Philistines,  that  they  desisted  for  a  long  time,  from  any 
farther  incursions  upon  the  territories  of  the  Israelites; 
and  hence,  under  their  two  deliverers,  the  people  long  en- 
joyed uninterrupted  tranquillity. 

The  Israelites  were,  however,  emphatically  a  rebellious 
and  ungrateful  people ;  and,  accordingly,  the  instruments 
which  the  Almighty,  from  time  to  time,  employed  for 
their  deliverance  from  oppression,  were  no  sooner  removed 
out  of  their  sight,  than  they  returned  again  to  their 
vice  and  folly.  Hence  Ehud  was  scarcely  dead,  be- 
fore, forgetting  their  former  servitude,  and  the  ease  and 
plenty  which  they  had  so  long  enjoyed  under  his  adminis- 
tration, they  again  began  to  indulge  in  every  variety  of 
riot  and  dissipation.  As  a  just  punishment  for  their  im- 
pieties, God  permitted  Jabin,  king  of  Canaan,  not  only  to 
conquer  them,  but  also  to  oppress  them  with  the  most  un- 
bounded severity,  for  the  space  of  twenty  years.  Sisera, 
the  general  whom  Jabin  employed  in  conquering  the  Israel- 
ites, and  who  was  the  chief  instrument  of  their  oppression, 
was  not  only  an  old  and  experienced  soldier  himself,  but 
had  under  his  command  a  large  army,  well  disciplined, 
and  inured  to  the  fatigues  of  war,  besides  nine  hundred 
armed  chariots  of  iron. 

The  Israelites,  having  been  thus  severely  punished  for 
their  transgressions,  at  length  "  cried  unto  the  Lord,"  and 


THE     JUDGES.  121 

the  Almighty,  ever  willing  to  forgive  his  erring  people  on 
the  first  signs  of  penitence  for  their  sins,  was  pleased  gra- 
ciously to  interpose  once  more  in  their  behalf;  and  that  the 
deliverance,  on  this  occasion,  might  be  the  more  signal,  he 
resolved  to  effect  it  by  the  agency  of  a  woman.  Deborah, 
the  Prophetess,  who,  at  this  time,  judged  Israel,  and  whose 
dwelling-place  was  under  a  palm-tree,  between  Bethel  and 
Kamah,  was  selected  for  this  purpose.  She,  therefore,  under 
Divine  direction,  sent  for  Barak,  a  brave  young  prince  of 
the  tribe  of  Naphtali,  and  informed  him  that  it  was  the 
pleasure  of  the  Almighty  that  he  should  collect  an  army 
of  ten  thousand  men  of  the  tribe  of  Naphtali  and  Zebulun, 
and  lead  them  towards  Mount  Tabor,  there  to  encounter 
their  oppressors;  and,  in  order  to  encourage  the  young 
hero,  she,  at  the  same  time,  informed  him,  that  God  had 
assured  her  that  Sisera,  with  his  whole  army  and  chariots 
of  war,  should  fall  into  his  hands,  and  ihe  Canaanites  be 
utterly  vanquished. 

Barak  readily  consented  to  enter  upon  this  great  and 
important  enterprize ;  but,  for  the  encouragement  of  his 
soldiers,  and  the  convenience  of  consultation  in  case  of 
emergency,  he  requested  Deborah  to  accompany  him. 
This  the  Prophetess  willingly  consented  to  do ;  and,  as 
Barak's  residence  was  at  Kedesh,  they  at  once  proceeded 
thither,  and,  having  soon  raised  the  army  required  from 
the  tribes  mentioned,  they,  without  delay,  marched  to 
Mount  Tabor.  This  comparatively  large  armed  band  of 
Israelites  soon  attracted  the  attention  of"  their  oppressors ; 
and  information  of  its  movements  being  communicated  to 
Sisera,  he  immediately  drew  out  his  forces,  and,  taking 
with  him  his  nine  hundred  iron  chariots,  marched,  with 
the  gTeatest  expedition,  from  Harosheth,  the  place  of 
his  abode,  to  the  foot  of  Mount  Tabor,  where  the  army 
halted,  with  the  view  of  cutting  off  Barak's  retreat, 
C 


122  THE     ANCIENT      HEBRE-WS. 

Barak,  as  was  very  natural,  was  greatly  alarmed  at  the 
formidable  appearance  of  Sisera's  army ;  but  bis  fears  were 
soon  removed  by  Deborah,  who  again  assured  him  of  suc- 
cess, and  advised  him  not  to  wait  for  Sisera'ft  approach, 
but,  at  the  dawn  of  the  following  morning,  to  fall  upon 
him  suddenly  and  unexpectedly.  Barak,  following  these 
directions,  attacked  the  enemy  with  such  fury,  that  the 
whole  Canaanitish  army  was  immediately  thrown  into  the 
utmost  confusion ;  and  so  complete  was  the  success  of  the 
Israelites,  that  Sisera  alone  escaped  the  general  carnage. 
From  the  field  of  battle  he  fled,  not  knowing  Avhither,  and 
finally  reached  the  tent  of  Jael,  the  wife  of  Heber,  the 
Kenite,  where  he  found  a  temporary  shelter.  In  order, 
however,  to  ingratiate  herself  with  Barak,  the  conqueror, 
she  embraced  an  opportunity  which  soon  after  offered,  to 
murder  Sisera,  by  driving  a  large  tent-nail  into  his  tem- 
ple while  he  lay  asleep  in  an  inner  apartment  of  her 
dwelling. 

This  important  victory,  with  the  successes  which  speedi- 
ly followed  it,  put  an  end  to  the  oppression  of  the  Israel- 
ites for  forty  years;  and,  in  commemoration  of  so  remaik- 
able  an  instance  of  Divine  interposition,  Deborah  composed 
a  triumphal  song,  in  which  she  beautifully  magnifies  the 
greatness  of  the  deliverance  thus  wrought  for  Israel,  by 
recounting  the  many  calamities  under  which  they  had  pre- 
viously labored.  This  fine  ode  is  contained  in  the  fifth 
chapter  of  the  book  of  Judges. 

While  the  Israelites  were  in  the  full  enjoyment  of  the 
liberty,  peace,  and  plenty  to  which  they  were  restored 
through  the  agency  of  Deborah  and  Barak,  their  felicity 
was  interrupted  by  one  of  the  most  dreadful  famines  on 
record.  This  famine  raged  with  such  violence  as  to  carry 
off,  in  a  short  time,  great  numbers  of  the  people ;  and, 
during  its  prevalence,  ina,ny  of  tlie  most  distin^uishc(^  fjuni 


THE     JUDGES.  123 

lies  left  the   country,   and  sought  relief  among  the   sur- 
rounding  nations. 

Of  those  that,  on  this  occasion,  quitted  their  abodes,  was 
Elimelech,  a  citizen  of  Bethlehem,  who,  accompanied  by 
Naomi  his  wife,  and  his  two  sons,  Mahlon  and  Chilion, 
removed  to  the  land  of  Moab.  Here  Elimelech  soon  after 
died,  and  left  Naomi  and  her  two  sons  strangers  in  a 
strange  land ;  but  the  sons,  after  the  death  of  their  father, 
married  two  of  the  daughters  of  Moab,  Orpah  and  Ruth— 
the  former  becoming  the  wife  of  Chilion,  and  the  latter, 
the  wife  of  Mahlon.  Fiom  this  period,  for  ten  years, 
Naomi  and  her  family  continued  to  dwell  in  Moab  very 
happily  together ;  but  at  the  expiration  of  that  time,  she 
had  the  misfortune  to  lose  her  sons  also  ;  and  thus  deprived 
of  both  her  husband  and  her  children,  she  could  with  no 
satisfaction  to  herself  continue  longer  in  a  land  where  such 
severe  calamities  had  overtaken  her.  She  resolved,  there- 
fore, to  return  at  once  into  her  own  country ;  and  this 
resolution  was  confirmed  by  the  intelligence  that  the 
famine  in  Canaan  had  ceased. 

Naomi  had  no  sooner  formed  the  design  of  returning  to 
her  native  land,  than  she  communicated  her  purpose  to 
her  daughters-in-law,  Orpah  and  Ruth  ;  but  they,  not  being 
willing  to  be  separated  from  a  parent  to  whom  they  had 
become  so  fondly  attached,  resolved  to  accompany  her. 
The  three  widows,  therefore,  set  out  on  their  journey 
together ;  but  they  had  not  gone  far  before  Naomi,  reflect- 
ing, perhaps  on  the  uncertainty  of  their  future  prospects, 
entreated  Orpah  and  Ruth  to  leave  her  to  pursue  her  journey 
alone,  and  to  return,  themselves,  to  their  own  homes,  and 
their  kindred.  With  Orpah  the  entreaties  of  Naomi  finally 
prevailed ;  and  she,  therefore,  after  taking  an  aftectionate 
leave  of  her  mother-in-law,  left  her  and  returned  to  her 
home.  But  Ruth,  when  again  urged  by  Naomi  to  pursue  the 


124  THE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

same  course,  instead  of  following  the  example  of  her  sister- 
in-law,  exclaimed  in  the  fullness  of  her  heart,  "Entreat  mo 
not  to  leave  thee,  or  to  return  from  following  after  thee  : 
for  whither  thou  goest,  I  will  go,  and  where  thou  lodgest, 
I  will  lodge :  thy  people  shall  be  my  people,  and  thy  God, 
my  God.  Where  thou  diest,  will  I  die,  and  there  will  I 
be  buried.  Tlie  Lord  do  so  to  me,  and  more  also,  if  aught 
but  death  part  thee  and  me." 

Naomi,  perceiving  from  this  fervent  address,  that  the 
pious  resolution  of  Euth  to  accompany  her,  was  fixed, 
pressed  her  no  farther  to  return ;  but  taking  her  with  her, 
they  proceeded  on  their  journey  towards  the  land  of  Judah. 
As  they  entered  the  city  of  Bethlehem,  Naomi  w^as  imme- 
diately recognized  by  some  of  her  old  neighbors  ;  and  ap- 
proaching her,  they  inquired,  "  Is  this  Naomi  V  AVhen 
the  disconsolate  widow  heard  her  former  associates  address 
her  by  this  name,  which  signifies  2^i(^<^sant,  she  replied  with 
deep  emotion,  "  Call  me  not  Naomi,  call  me  Mara,"  the 
meaning  of  which  is  bittei^ ;  "for,"  said  she,  "the  Al- 
mighty hath  dealt  very  bitterly  with  me.  1  went  out 
full,  and  the  Lord  hath  brought  me  home  again  empty. 
Why  then  call  ye  me  Naomi,  seeing  the  Lord  hath  testi- 
fied against  me,  and  the  Almighty  hath  afflicted  me?" 

Naomi  and  Euth  happened  to  arrive  in  Bethlehem  just 
at  the  time  of  harvest ;  and  as  they  were  entirely  desti- 
tute of  the  ordinary  means  of  subsistence,  the  latter,  in 
order  to  obtain  sustenance  for  her  mother-in-law  and  her- 
self, proposed  to  go  into  the  field  of  Boaz,  a  wealthy  kins- 
man of  Elimelech,  the  deceased  husband  of  Naomi,  and 
glean  some  corn.  A  short  time  after  Euth  had  entered 
the  field,  she  was  accosted  by  the  overseer  of  Boaz,  who 
inquired  who  she  was,  and  whence  she  came  ;  and  while  she 
was  rehearsing  her  own  history,  and  that  of  her  mother- 
in-law,  Naomi,  Boaz  himself  approached  them  ;  and,  hav 


THE     JUDGES.  125 

ing  already  heard  the  story  of  his  kinswoman's  return 
from  the  land  of  Moab,  accompanied  by  her  daughter-in- 
law,  he  directed  his  reapers  not  only  not  to  molest  her, 
but  to  allow  her  to  gather  where  she  pleased,  and  to  sup- 
ply her  with  food  and  water  from  their  own  stores. 

With  this  unexpected  civility  and  distinguished  kind- 
ness from  so  eminent  a  personage  as  Boaz,  Euth  was 
deeply  affected  ;  and  "  she  fell  on  her  face,  and  bowed  her- 
self to  the  ground,  and  said  unto  him,  Why  have  I  found 
gTace  in  thine  eyes,  that  thou  shouldst  take  knowledge  of 
me,  seeing  I  am  a  stranger.  And  Boaz  answered,  and 
said  unto  her.  It  hath  fully  been  showed  me  all  that  thou 
iiast  done  unto  thy  mother-in-law,  since  the  death  of  thine 
husband ;  and  how  thou  hast  left  thy  father  and  thy  mother 
and  the  land  of  thy  nativity,  and  art  come  unto  a  people 
which  thou  knewest  not  heretofore.  The  Lord  recom- 
pense thy  work,  and  a  full  reward  be  given  thee  of  the 
Lord  God  of  Israel  under  whose  wings  thou  art  come  to 
trust." 

When  Boaz  left  the  field  to  return  to  the  city,  he  gave 
his  reapers  particular  directions  not  only  to  treat  Ruth 
with  great  civility,  but,  that  her  gleaning  might  be  the 
more  successful,  he  ordered  them  purposely  to  drop  corn 
in  her  way  as  she  passed.  By  this  means  the  quantity  of 
corn  which  she  gathered  during  the  day  became  so  great, 
that  when  she  returned  to  Naomi  in  the  evening,  bearing 
with  her  the  fruits  of  her  toil,  the  latter,  in  utter  amaze- 
ment, inquired  of  her  how  it  had  happened  that  she  had 
been  so  successful.  Ruth,  in  reply,  informed  her  mother- 
in-law  in  whose  field  she  had  been  gleaning,  and  then 
proceeded  to  relate  every  particular  circumstance  that  had 
occurred  during  her  absence.  On  hearing  these  particu- 
lars, Naomi  advised  Ruth  to  visit  the  same  field  daily,  and 
continue  to  glean  there  until  the  harvest  should  close; 


126  THE     ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

and  the  quantity  of  corn  which  they  thus  obtained  was 
so  great  as  to  afford  ample  proWsions  for  the  season. 

When  Naomi  came  to  reflect  upon  all  these  circum- 
stances, she  at  once  began  to  entertain  the  hope  that,  not- 
withstanding their  depressed  condition,  God  had  designed 
that  her  amiable  and  affectionate  daughter-in-law  should 
become  the  wife  of  her  distinguished  kinsman.  Anxious 
that  so  desirable  an  event  might  be  speedily  brought 
about,  she  naturally  adopted  such  means  to  facilitate  it 
as  were  laudable  and  proper.  It  was  at  that  time  custom- 
ary among  the  Israelites,  to  celebrate,  at  the  end  of  the 
harvest,  a  feast,  at  wdiich  the  master  freely  associated  with 
his  servants,  and  ate  and  drank  with  them  in  the  most 
familiar  and  friendly  manner. 

Taking  advantage  of  this  practice,  Naomi  arranged  mat- 
ters so  as  to  introduce  Kuth,  at  the  end  of  Boaz's  feast, 
into  his  presence,  under  such  circumstances  as  would  be 
most  grateful  to  his  exalted  rank,  and  consistent  with  his 
affinity  to  her  as  a  kinsman.  A^Qien  Boaz  beheld  Euth 
thus  in  liis  presence,  both  his  compassion  and  his  aflection 
were  at  once  elicited  in  her  fa^'or;  and  his  sympathy,  as 
was  natural,  soon  growing  into  a  devoted  attachment,  he 
solicited  and  obtained  her  of  Naomi  as  his  wife.  Thus 
the  Almighty,  by  means  entirely  inscrutable  to  us,  effected 
his  own  grand  and  mysterious  purpose  ;  for,  from  the  union 
of  Boaz  and  Kuth  descended  Obed,  the  father  of  Jesse,  and 
grandfather  of  David,  of  whom,  according  to  the  flesh, 
came  Messiah,  the  Saviour  of  the  world. 


THE     JUDGES.  127 


SECTION   IV. 

Israel  oppressed  by  tlic  Midianites— Appointment  of  Gideon  as  the* 
Deliverer — Attes'ted  by  remarkable  Miracles— Destroys  the  Altars  of 
Baal— Collects  his  Forces— By  Divine  Direction  dismisses  all  except 
Three  Hundred — Encouraged  by  a  Dream  heard  in  the  Enemy's  camp 
— The  Enemy  thrown  into  Confusion  and  slay  each  other — Complaint 
of  Ephraim— The  Golden  Eph«.d— Treachery  and  Cruelty  of  Art 
MELECH — Tola  and  Jair  judge  Israel. 

During  the  wise  and  virtuous  administration  of  Deborah 
and  Barak,  the  Iraelites  enjoyed  those  blessings  of  peace 
and  prosperity,  wliich  uniformly  attended  their  obedience 
to  the  Divine  will ;  but  soon  after  the  death  of  their  lead- 
ers, they  again  returned  to  their  wicked  and  impious  prac- 
tices, in  consequence  of  which,  the  Almighty,  as  a  just 
punishment  for  their  sins,  delivered  them  once  more  into 
the  hands  of  their  enemies. 

The  Midianites,  the  people  who  next  oppressed  the 
Israelites,  dwelt  east  of  the  river  Jordan,  and  had  been 
nearly  two  hundred  years  before  almost  totally  destroyed 
by  the  latter,  when  they  were  on  their  way  to  the  land  of 
Canaan ;  but  a  remnant  of  the  nation  escaping  into  other 
countries,  there  remained  until  Israel  became  settled  in  the 
promised  land,  and  then  they  returned  and  occupied  their 
former  possessions.  These  people  had  now  become  ex- 
tremely numerous,  and,  assisted  by  the  Amalekites,  they 
conquered  the  Israelites,  and  kept  them,  for  seven  years,  in 
the  most  abject  state  of  subjection.  The  oppression  of  the 
Israelites,  during  the  whole  of  this  period,  far  surpassed 
anything  that  they  had  ever  before  endured ;  for,  to  save 
themselves  from  absolute  servitude,  they  were  compelled 
to  flee  to  the  mountains,  and  to  live  in  fortified  places  and 
caves  of  the  earth.  As  the  spring  approached,  they  would 
steal  from  their  hiding  places,  and  sow  their  lands;  but 


128  THE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

all  v.as  to  no  purpose ;  for,  towards  the  time  of  harvest, 
their  enemies  regularly  invaded  their  country,  destroyed 
the  productions  of  the  earth,  and  killed  or  carried  oflf  all 
the  cattle  that  fell  in  their  way. 

In  this  wretched  condition,  destitute  of  even  the  neces- 
saries of  life,  the  Israelites  began  to  reflect  upon  their 
repeated  transgressions,  and  to  feel  that  a  Divine  arm 
alone  could  relieve  them.  They,  therefore,  in  deep  peni- 
tence for  their  sins,  addressed  their  humble  and  fervent 
petitions  to  the  Almighty,  and,  in  answer  to  their  prayers, 
God  was  pleased  to  send  a  prophet  to  expostulate  with 
them  on  the  wicked  and  ungrateful  return  they  had  made 
for  His  former  favors,  and  to  remind  them  that  their  pre- 
sent deplorable  condition  was  a  just  punishment  for  their 
repeated  disobedience  to  the  Divine  will.  This  expostula- 
tion made  them  still  more  sensible  of  the  enormity  of  their 
offenses,  and  prepared  them  for  the  proper  reception  of  t\w 
blessing  w^hich  God  was  about  to  confer  upon  them,  in 
sending  them  a  deliverer,  in  the  person  of  Gideon,  the  son 
of  Joash,  of  the  tribe  of  Manasseh. 

Soon  after  this  indication  of  the  purpose  of  the  Almighty 
to  deliver  the  Israelites  from  the  oppressions  of  the  Midian- 
ites,  the  Angel  of  the  Lord  was  sent  to  Gideon,  who  Avas 
at  that  time  privately  threshing  out  his  corn,  to  inform 
him  that  God  had  selected  him  as  his  instrument  to  deliver 
his  people  from  their  oppressors.  To  this  extraordinary 
communication,  Gideon,  in  the  utmost  astonishment,  re- 
plied, "  If  the  Lord  be  with  us,  why,  then,  is  all  this 
befallen  us  ?  And  where  are  all  his  miracles,  which  our 
fathers  have  told  us  of,  saying,  '  Did  not  the  Lord  bring 
us  up  out  of  Egypt  ?'  But  now  the  Lord  hath  forsaken 
us,  and  delivered  us  into  the  hands  of  the  Midianites." 
To  this  expostulation  of  Gideon,  the  Lord  himself  replied, 
saying,  "  Go  in  this  thy  might,  and  thou  shalt  save  Israel 


THE     JUDGES.  129 

from  the  hand  of  the  Midianites :  have  not  I  sent  thee  ?" 
But  Gideon,  aware  of  his  own  comparative  insignificance, 
now  anxiously  inquired,  "  0  my  Lord,  wherewith  shall  I 
save  Israel  ?  Behold,  my  family  is  poor  in  Manasseh,  and 
I  am  the  least  in  my  father's  house.''  Not  displeased  with 
the  timidity  of  Gideon,  and  in  order  to  assure  him  of 
entire  success  in  this  great  undertaking,  God  now  said 
unto  him,  "  Surely  I  will  be  with  thee,  and  thou  shalt 
smite  the  Midianites  as  one  man." 

This  positive  promise  of  Almighty  aid,  prepared  Gideon, 
in  a  great  measure,  for  his  important  mission ;  but,  desir- 
ous of  being  assured  beyond  a  doubt,  that  these  commu- 
nications came  to  him  from  a  Divine  agent,  he  ventured 
farther  to  propose,  "If,  now,  I  have  found  grace  in  thy 
sight,  then  shew  me  some  sign,  whereby  I  may  know  that 
it  is  thou,  the  Angel  that  talkest  with  me.  Wherefore,  de- 
part not  hence,  I  pray  thee,  till  I  return  with  my  offering, 
and  set  it  before  thee."  To  this  request,  the  Angel  imme- 
diately replied,  "  I  will  tarry  till  thou  come  ;"  and  Gideon, 
accordingly,  hastened  to  prepare  a  kid,  and  some  unleav- 
ened cakes,  which  he  spread  upon  a  table  in  the  Sacred 
presence.  These  the  Angel  ordered  him  to  remove,  and 
place  upon  an  adjacent  rock,  and  to  pour  the  broth  which 
he  had  brought  with  him  in  a  small  vessel,  over  them  ; 
and  this  being  done,  the  Angel  touched  them  with  his 
staff',  and  immediately  tire  issued  out  of  the  rock,  and 
completely  consumed  them.  When  Gideon  beheld  this 
miraculous  display  of  Almighty  power,  he,  in  fear  and 
trembling,  exclaimed,  "  Alas,  0  Lord  God !  for  because  I 
have  seen  an  Angel  of  the  Lord  face  to  face,  /  shall  surely 
die.'^  But,  to  remove  his  groundless  apprehensions,  "  the 
Lord  said  unto  him,  '  Peace  be  unto  thee ;  fear  not,  thou 
shalt  not  die.'  "  In  commemoration  of  this  gracious  inter- 
view, Gideon  erected  an  altar  on  the  spot  where  it  occurred, 
6* 


130  THE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

and  called  it  Jehovah-Shalom,  which  signifies  the  Lord  of 
Peace. 

Having  been  thus  assured  that  he  was  Divinely  commis- 
sioned to  deliver  his  countrymen  from  the  oppressive  yoke 
^f  the  Midianites,  Gideon,  preparatory  to  entering  upon 
this  important  enterprise,  destroyed  the  altar  of  Baal, 
which  his  father  had  erected,  and  cut  down  the  grove 
that  surrounded  it.  He  then  built  an  altar  to  the  Lord, 
on  the  top  of  a  rock,  and  offered  upon  it,  as  a  sacrifice,  a 
seven-years-old  bullock,  from  his  father's  stall,  using  the 
wood  of  the  grove  for  the  performance  of  the  ceremony. 
This  act  of  piety  Gideon  performed  in  the  night,  lest  the 
people,  who  had  now,  through  long  practice,  become  wed- 
ded to  their  idolatry,  should  interfere,  and  prevent  the 
execution  of  his  pious  purpose.  But  when  the  people,  on 
the  following  morning,  saw  what  Gideon  had  done  to  the 
altar  of  their  favorite  Baal,  they  assembled  together  and 
demanded  the  young  hero  of  his  father,  that  they  might 
put  him  to  death ;  but,  to  this  demand  Joash  simply 
replied,  that  if  Baal  was  a  Grod,  it  was  Ms  business,  and 
not  theirs^  to  avenge  the  insult  he  had  received.  With  this 
answer  the  people  were  satisfied,  and  Joash  thenceforth 
called  his  son  Jerub-baal,  which  signifies  the  Opposer  of 
Baal 

The  period  of  the  year  had  now  arrived,  when  the  Midi- 
anites and  their  associates  were  accustomed  to  make  their 
annual  incursions  into  the  territory  of  the  Israelites.  With 
this  view  they  were  assembled  in  vast  numbers,  and,  pass- 
ing the  river  Jordan,  encamped  in  the  valley  of  Jezreel. 
To  meet  tliis  formidable  army,  Gideon  immediately  made 
preparation ;  and,  after  summoning  the  members  of  his 
own  family  to  take  up  arms,  he  sent  messengers  to  the 
tribes  of  Manasseh,  Asher,  Zebulun,  and  Naphtali,  exhort- 
irg  them  to  join  him  in  an  effort  to  which  God  had  called 


THE     JUDGES.  131 

liim,  to  snake  off  the  oppressive  yoke  of  the  Midianites, 
under  which  they  had  so  long  groaned.  With  this  request, 
the  different  tribes  addressed,  readily  complied,  and  imme- 
diately assembled  in  such  numbers,  that  Gideon  soon  found 
himself  at  the  head  of  an  army  amounting  to  thirty-two 
thousand  men. 

Anxious  to  satisfy  his  associates  that  he  was  acting 
under  Divine  directions,  Gideon,  as  soon  as  his  forces 
were  assembled,  begged  of  God  to  confirm  his  commission 
by  some  visible  sign.  Assured  that  the  Almighty  would 
graciously  grant  his  request,  he  spread  a  fleece  of  wool  on 
the  ground,  and,  upon  taking  it  up  on  the  following  morn- 
ing, the  fleece  was  found  to  be  thoroughly  wet  with  dew, 
while  the  surrounding  earth  remained  dry.  Lest  a  doubt 
of  his  Divine  commission  should  still  linger  in  any  mind, 
Gideon  requested  of  the  Lord  that  the  experiment  might 
be  reversed :  the  fleece  was,  accordingly,  exposed  for  a 
second  night,  and,  on  the  morning  which  followed,  the 
ground  was  found  to  be  wet,  while  the  fleece  remained 
entirely  dry. 

These  specific  expressions  of  the  Divine  approbation  of 
the  enterprise  of  Gideon,  at  once  convinced  the  people  that 
the  Almighty  would  be  with  them ;  and  they,  therefore, 
immediately  marched  to  meet  the  enemy,  who  still  lay 
encamped  in  the  plains  of  Jezreel.  God  had,  however, 
from  the  beginning,  designed  to  assume  to  himself  the 
exclusive  credit  of  the  approaching*  triumph ;  and,  when 
the  army,  accordingly,  halted  in  their  march,  at  the  well 
of  Harod,  he  ordered  it  to  be  proclaimed,  throughout  the 
camp,  that  all  who  felt  timid  or  fearful,  were  at  liberty  to  re- 
turn to  their  homes.  In  consequence  of  this  proclamation, 
twenty-two  thousand  quitted  the  expedition,  leaving  only 
ten  thousand  to  face  the  foe.  This  number  was,  however, 
still  much  greater  than  the  Almighty  required  for  the  over- 


132  THE     ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

throw  of  the  Midianites ;  and  he,  therefore,  by  the  signal 
of  the  drinking  and  the  lapping  of  water,  reduced  the  num- 
ber of  Gideon's  associates  to  only  three  hundred  men. 

With  this  little  band,  Gideon,  under  Divine  direction, 
pursued  his  march  towards  the  river  Jordan,  and  halted 
at  a  short  distance  from  the  enemy's  camp.  While  thus 
situated,  he  was  in  great  perplexity  to  discover  the  means 
l^y  which  the  Almighty  designed  that  he,  with  a  mere  hand- 
ful of  men,  should  defeat  the  vast  Midian  host  before  him. 
To  animate  and  encourage  him,  therefore,  God  directed  him 
to  take  with  him  a  single  servant,  and  go  privately  to  the 
enemy's  camp,  where  the  means  he  had  in  resen^e  for  their 
destruction  should  be  made  known  to  him.  In  accordance 
Avith  this  direction,  Gideon,  during  the  following  night,  took 
with  him  his  faithful  servant  Phurah,  and,  immediately  after 
they  arrived  at  the  enemy's  camp,  they  approached  one  of 
the  tents,  and  heard  a  soldier  relating  to  his  comrades  the 
following  dream  :  "  Behold,"  said  he,  "I  dreamed  a  dream, 
and  lo,  a  cake  of  barley  tumbled  into  the  host  of  Midian, 
and  came  unto  a  tent,  and  smote  it  that  it  fell,  and  over- 
turned it,  that  the  tent  lay  along."  The  interpretation  of 
this  dream  was  immediately  given  by  another  soldier,  as 
follows  :  "  This,"  he  remarked,  "  is  nothing  else  save  tba 
sword  of  Gideon,  the  son  of  Joash,  a  man  of  Israel :  for 
into  his  hand  hath  God  delivered  Midian  and  all  tho 
host." 

This  dream  and  its  interpretation  inspired  Gideon  with 
increased  courage;  and,  after  offering,  in  humble  adora- 
tion, thanks  to  the  Almighty,  he  returned  to  his  camp, 
divided  his  little  army  into  three  companies  of  one  hun- 
dred men  each,  and  put  them  in  proper  order  for  battle. 
He  then  gave  to  each  man  a  trumpet,  and  a  pitcher  with  a 
l)urning  torch  in  it,  charging  them  to  follow  him,  and,  in 
every  respect,  to  imitate  his  motions  and  actions.     His 


THE     JUDGES. 


133 


little  army  being  thus  arranged.  Gideon  placed  himself  at 
their  head,  and  marched  t()^vards  the  enemy's  camp,  as 
soon  as  he  had  reached  >vhich,  he  gave  the  signal  by 
breaking  his  pitcher,  taking  the  lighted  torch  in  his  hand, 
and  sounding  his  trumpet.  All  the  soldiers,  as  had  been 
previously  concerted,  followed  his  example,  and,  at  the 
same  instant  exclaimed,  "  The  sword  of  the  Lord,  and  of 
Gideon!" 

This  sudden  alarm  being  given  at  the  dead  of  night,  the 
enemy,  on  hearing  the  sound  of  so  many  trumpets,  and 
seeing  at  the  same  time  so  great  a  number  of  lights,  sup- 
posed that  they  had  been  attacked  by  a  very  formidable 
army.  Being  composed  of  different  nations,  they,  in  the 
midst  of  their  fright,  could  not  distinguish  one  party  from 
another ;  and,  therefore,  instead  of  falling  upon  the  Israel- 
ites, they  attacked  each  other  in  so  indiscriminate  a  man- 
ner, that  the  whole  scene  became  one  of  complicated  con- 
fusion. Gideon,  seizing  the  advantage  which  this  general 
disorder  of  the  enemy  afforded,  immediately  pressed  upon 
them  with  such  energy,  that  multitudes  of  them  were  sLain 
on  the  spot,  while  the  rest  had  recourse  to  a  precipitate 
flight.  As  soon  as  opportunity  offered,  Gideon  sent  orders 
to  that  part  of  his  army  which  had  withdrawn  under  his 
last  proclamation,  to  attack  the  enemy  who  remained  in 
the  rear,  while  he,  with  his  three  hundred  immediate  fol- 
lowers, pursued  those  who  fled  beyond  the  Jordan. 

The  Midianites  whom  Gideon,  with  his  fearless  little 
band,  thus  pursued,'  amounted  to  fifteen  thousand  men, 
and  were  led  by  their  two  kings,  Zebah  and  Zalmunna. 
Being  considerably  in  advance  of  Gideon's  forces,  the 
Midianites  succeeded  in  reaching,  in  safety,  the  distant  city 
of  Karkor,  where,  supposing  themselves  entirely  beyond  the 
reach  of  danger,  they  rested  in  thoughtless  security.  While 
thus  off  their  guard,  Gideon  came  upon  them  unexpectedly, 


131  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

and  attacking  them  suddenly,  defeated,  with  the  utmost  ease 
the  \Yhole  army,  and  captured  their  two  kings.  The  lives  of 
the  kings,  he  designed  to  spare  ;  but,  having  learned  by  their 
own  confession,  that  they  had  slain  his  brethren  at  Tabor, 
and  laid  waste  the  country  through  which  they  had  passed, 
he  immediately  stripped  them  of  their  royal  robes  and  orna- 
ments, and  put  them  to  death.  He  also  punished  the  men 
of  Succoth  and  Penuel  with  great  severity,  for  having 
refused  him  and  his  followers  succor  while  exhausted  by 
hunger  and  fatigue  during  their  pursuit  of  the  enemy. 

While  Gideon  was  thus  pursuing  the  Midianites  who 
had  escaped  beyond  the  river  Jordan,  the  part  of  the  army 
that  did  not  accompany  him,  completely  extirpated  the 
enemy  whom  he  had  left  behind;  and  their  two  kings, 
Oreb  and  Zeeb,  being  found  among  the  slain,  their  heads 
were  cut  off  and  sent  to  Gideon,  as  evidence  of  the  com- 
pleteness of  the  victory.  The  Ephraimites,  however,  ex- 
pressed great  dissatisfaction  w^ith  hira,  for  having  engaged 
in  a  public  act  of  hostility  without  their  knowledge ;  but 
when  Gideon  informed  them,  that  he  had  acted  in  con- 
formity to  the  command  of  God,  and  that,  therefore,  he 
did  not  claim  the  merit  of  the  victory  he  had  obtained,  for 
himself,  they  were  not  only  appeased,  but  entirely  satis- 
fied. 

Thus  were  the  combined  armies  of  Midian  and  Ama- 
lek  totally  overthrown,  and  the  Israelites  once  more 
relieved  from  their  wretched  state  of  bondage.  These 
great  and  glorious  actions,  in  deferfse  of  the  liberty  of 
their  country,  gave  to  Gideon  such  unbounded  popularity, 
that  the  whole  nation,  with  one  voice,  desired  to  settle  the 
government  permanently  upon  himself  and  his  family. 
15ut  Gideon,  fully  aware  that  all  the  honor  of  this  signal 
triumph  over  their  enemies  belonged  exclusively  to  the 
Almighty,  modestly  replied  to  this  generous  offer,  "  I  will 


THE    JUDGES.  135 

not  rule  over  you,  neither  shall  my  son ;  but  the  Lord 
shall  rule  over  you.''  He  requested  his  soldiers,  however, 
to  give  him,  as  an  expression  of  their  gratitude  for  the 
share  lie  had  taken  in  their  recent  victories,  the  ear-rings 
found  among  the  spoils  of  the  foe.  With  this  request  they 
readily  complied,  saying,  "We  willingly  give  them.  And 
they  spread  a  garment,  and  did  cast  therein,  every  man, 
the  ear-rings  of  his  prey ;  and  the  weight  of  the  ear-rings 
was  a  thousand  and  seven  hundred  shekels  of  gold,  besides 
ornaments,  and  collars,  and  purple  raiment,  that  w'as  on 
the  kings  of  Midian,  and  the  chains  that  were  on  their 
camels'  necks." 

Of  the  gold  thus  received,  Gideon  made  an  ephod,  or 
outer  garment  worn  by  the  priest  upon  his  shoulders, 
together  Avith  all  the  sacred  ornaments  which  necessarily 
belong  to  it,  and  placed  it  in  the  city  of  Ophrah,  as  a 
monument  of  his  extraordinary  victory.  This  ejDhod  after- 
wards became  a  snare,  not  only  to  Gideon  himself,  but 
also  to  all  Israel ;  for,  from  their  fixed  idolatrous  habits, 
they  soon  transferred  to  it  that  worship  which  was  due 
alone  to  their  Maker. 

For  forty  years  after  the  miraculous  deliverance  of  the 
Israelites  from  Midian  oppression  through  the  agency  of 
Gideon,  the  people  enjoyed  uninterrupted  peace  and  pros- 
perity; and  at  his  death,  which  occurred  when  he  was  far 
advanced  in  life,  he  left,  by  his  various  wives,  the  un- 
precedented number  of  seventy  sons,  besides  Abimelech, 
who  was  born  of  a  concubine  of  Shechem.  The  latter, 
having  no  right  to  share  with  Gideon's  lawful  children 
the  inheritance  of  their  father,  resolved  to  provide  for 
himself  by  removing  them  out  of  his  way.  With  this 
view  he  repaired  to  Shechem,  the  place  of  residence  of 
the  family  of  his  mother,  and  there  found  little  difficulty  in 
collecting  together  a  band  of  desperadoes  like  himself,  at 


136  THE     ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

the  head  of  whom  he  returned  to  Ophrah,  and,  seizing  all 
the  lawful  sons  of  Gideon,  excepting  Jotham,  who  effected 
his  escape,  he  put  them  at  once  to  death. 

Abimelech  had  no  sooner  committed  this  diabolical  act, 
than  he  returned  to  Shechem,  and,  notwithstanding  the 
enormity  of  his  crime,  was  at  once  elected,  by  a  general 
assembly  of  the  Shechemites,  their  king.  When  Jotham 
heard  of  the  advancement  of  Abimelech  to  kingly  power 
by  the  inhabitants  of  Shechem,  he  immediately  repaired 
to  mount  Gcrizim,  in  the  vicinity  of  that  city,  and  there 
delivered  a  para-bolical  address,  in  which  he  represented  to 
the  people  his  father's  modesty  in  refusing  to  allow  them 
to  settle  the  government  upon  him  and  his  family,  which 
they  had  now  conferred  upon  one  as  much  inferior,  in 
virtue  and  honor,  to  Gideon  and  his  lawful  sons,  as  the 
bramble  was  inferior  to  the  olive-tree,  the  fig-tree,  or  the 
vine.  This  parable  is  found  in  the  ninth  chapter  of  the 
Book  of  Judges,  and  is  remarkable  for  being  the  first 
instance  of  that  kind  of  writing  on  record.  After  deliver- 
ing this  parable,  and  the  remarks  which  accompanied  it, 
to  the  people,  Jotham  retired  to  Beer,  a  city  situated  on 
the  northern  border  of  the  territory  of  the  tribe  of  Judah, 
and  there  passed  the  remainder  of  his  life. 

Abimelech  ruled  the  Shechemites  in  so  arbitrary  and 
tyrannical  a  manner,  that,  after  a  reign  of  three  years, 
they  expelled  him  from  Shechem,  and  conferred  the  gov- 
ernment upon  Gaal,  a  prince  of  the  country,  who,  attended 
by  a  body  of  aiTned  men,  had  recently  removed  to  the  city. 
Abimelech  found  means,  however,  after  a  brief  absence,  to 
regain  his  authority ;  and,  in  retaliation  for  his  expulsion, 
he  put  the  greater  part  of  the  inhabitants  to  the  sword, 
demolished  the  city,  and,  as  the  last  act  of  indignity, 
caused  salt  to  be  sown  upon  the  foundation  of  the  city 
walls — thus  indicating  that  the  people  had  been  guilty  o: 


THE     JUDGES. 


137 


treachery.  Those  of  the  Shechemites  who  escaped  the 
rage  of  the  tyrant  in  the  city,  took  refuge  in  a  stronghold 
belonging  to  their  idol  Berith.  Thither  Abimelech  pur- 
sued them;  and  having  set  fire  to  the  place  of  their  retreat, 
they  all  perished  in  the  flames. 

Even  this  last  act  of  cruelty  did  not  satiate  Abimelech's 
implacable  revenge ;  and  he,  therefore,  next  marched  against 
the  neighboring  city  of  Thebez,  the  inhabitants  of  which, 
being  few  in  number,  took  refuge  in  the  city  tower.  En- 
tering the  place  without  opposition,  Abimeleth  immediately 
led  his  men  to  the  base  of  the  tower,  and  while  he  was 
standing  under  its  walls,  revolving  in  his  mind  the  means 
by  which  he  might  most  readily  destroy  it,  one  of  tho 
women  who  had  fled  thither  for  safety,  let  fall  a  piece  of 
mill-stone  upon  his  head  with  such  force  that  it  immedi- 
ately prostrated  him  upon  the  ground.  Awaking  soon 
after  to  consciousness,  and  perceiving  that  his  wound  was 
mortal,  he  ordered  his  armor-bearer  to  dispatch  him  at 
once,  lest  it  should  be  said  that  he  had  been  slain  by  a 
woman.  "  Thus  God  rendered  the  wickedness  of  Abime- 
lech, which  he  did  unto  his  father's  house,  in  slaying  his 
seventy  brethren.  And  all  the  evil  of  the  men  of  Shechem 
did  God  render  upon  their  heads ;  and  upon  them  came 
the  curse  of  Jotliam,  the  son  of  Jerub-baal." 

Immediately  after  the  death  of  Abimelech,  Tola,  an  emi- 
nent man  of  the  tribe  of  Issachar,  became  Judge  of  Israel, 
and  held  his  oflflce  for  twenty-three  years.  During  the 
whole  of  this  period,  he  resided  at  Shamir,  on  mount 
Ephraim;  but  of  his  character^  and  achievements,  nothing 
farther  is  related  than  that  he  a'dministered  the  government 
successfully,  and,  at  his  death,  was  buried  in  the  place  of 
his  abode. 

Tola  was  succeeded  in  the  government  by  Jair,  a  Gilead- 
ite,  of  the  tribe  of  Manasseh.     He  was  a  man  of  extensive 


138  THE     ANCIENT      HEBREWS  . 

possessions  and  numerous  family — having  no  less  than 
thijty  sons  and  thirty  daughters.  Each  of  his  sons  had 
an  independent  government — being  at  the  head  of  the 
respective  city  in  which  he  resided ;  and  they  all,  like  their 
father,  were  men  of  great  courage,  and  universally  esteemed 
by  the  people.  Jair  judged  Israel  twenty-two  years,  and, 
dying  at  an  advanced  age,  was  buried  at  Camon,  a  city  of 
Gilead. 


SECTION   V. 


Israel,  after  Ninety  Years  of  Prosperity,  brought  under  the  Yoke  ot  the 
Philistines  and  Ammonites— Early  Life  of  Jephthah — Made  Judge 
of  Israel — His  rash  Vow — The  Sacrifice  of  his  Daughter,  the  Conse- 
quence—Triumphs over  the  Enemies  of  Israel — Hie  Death — Succeeded 
by  Ibzan,  Elon,  and  Abdon — Birth  of  Samson— His  Extraordinary 
Sti-ength  and  -wonderful  Career — His  Death  and  Character  —  A  dis- 
tinguished Type  of  Messiah. 

The  ninety  years  that  followed  the  deliverance  of  the 
Israelites  from  their  oppressors,  through  the  valor  of 
Gideon,  was,  with  the  exception  of  the  brief  career  of 
Abimelech,  a  period  of  uninterrupted  prosperity ;  but, 
soon  after  the  death  of  the  pious  and  upright  Jair,  they 
again  degenerated  into  their  former  wicked  and  impious 
practices.  Their  idolatry  at  this  time  surpassed  any  that 
they  had  indulged  in  during  the  whole  of  the  previous 
period  of  their  national  existence ;  for  they  not  only  wor- 
shiped Baal  and  Ashtaroth,  but  they  adopted  also  the  idols 
of  the  Syrians,  the  Zidonians,  the  Ammonites,  the  Moab- 
ites,  and  even  the  Philistines. 

Reiterated  oftenses  against  tlieir  Divine  benefactor, 
were,  throughout  the  whole  history  of  the  Israelites,  uni- 
formly followed  by  reiterated  judgments ;  and  now,  there- 
fore, as  on  all  previous  occasions,  when  they  departed  from 
tlieir  Maker,  the  Almighty  was  pleased  to  teach  them  once 
more,  that  "  the  way  of  transgressors  is  hard,"  by  bring- 


THE     JUDGES.  139 

ing  them  under  the  oppressive  yoke  of  their  enemies.  He, 
accordingly,  permitted  the  Philistines  and  Ammonites,  not 
only  to  subdue  those  tribes  whose  inheritance  lay  on  the 
east  side  of  the  river  Jordan,  but  also  to  extend  their  con- 
quests to  the  more  distant  tribes  of  Judah,  Benjamin,  and 
Ephraim — all  of  wliich  they  subdued  and  kept  in  abso- 
lute subjection  for  the  long  and  dreary  period  of  eighteen 
years. 

The  Israelites,  after  many  vain  attempts  to  resist,  iu 
their  own  strength,  the  power  of  their  oppressors,  at 
length  became  sensible  of  the  wickedness,  as  well  as  the 
folly  by  which  they  had  provoked  God  thus  to  punish 
them ;  and  having,  therefore,  acknowledged  their  sins, 
they  humbly  besought  him  once  more  to  pardon  them, 
and  restore  them  again  to  his  Divine  favor.  But  the 
Almighty,  with  the  utmost  severity,  rebuked  them  for  their 
ingratitude,  and,  to  heighten  the  poignancy  of  their  pre- 
sent afflictions,  bade  them  call  upon  the  gods  whom  they 
had  preferred  to  him,  to  deliver  them  from  their  calamitous 
condition.  This  cutting  reproof  they  most  sensibly  felt; 
and  in  order,  therefore,  to  recover  the  Di\dne  favor  and 
protection,  they  immediately  removed  all  their  idols,  and, 
with  dee^)  and  earnest  penitence,  returned  to  his  service. 
This  forsaking  of  their  sins  and  penitence  for  them,  God 
no  sooner  perceived,  than  he  evinced  his  readiness  to  for- 
give them,  and  restore  them  once  more  to  his  favor,  by 
pointing  out  the  means  through  which  their  deliverance 
should  be  effected. 

There  resided,  at  this  time,  in  that  part  of  the  tribe  of 
Manasseh  which  had  settled  on  the  east  side  of  the  Jordan, 
a  man  of  great  celebrity,  whose  name  was  Gilead.  He  was 
descended  from  that  Machir  to  whom  Moses  gave  the  city 
of  Gilead,  at  the  time  of  the  conquest  of  the  country ;  and, 
besides  a  numerous  family  of  legitimate  children,  he  had 


140  THE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

one  son,  named  Jephthah,  by  a  concubine.  Jephthah,  not 
being  entitled  to  any  part  of  liis  father's  possessions,  was 
expelled  by  liis  brethren,  from  the  family,  soon  after  his 
father's  death;  and  thus  cast  upon  the  world,  he,  after 
various  wanderings,  finally  settled  in  the  land  of  Tob, 
in  the  northern  part  of  Arabia.  Naturally  possessed  of 
great  courage  and  intrepidity,  and,  withal,  of  winning 
address,  he  soon  collected  a  small  band  of  followers 
around  him,  at  the  head  of  whom  he  made  frequent  in- 
cursions into  the  enemy's  country,  whence  he  carried  off 
very  considerable  spoils. 

While  Jephthah  was  thus  engaged  in  these  preda'tory 
expeditions,  the  Ammonites  collected  a  large  army  for  the 
purpose  of  invading  Gilead,  and  laying  siege  to  the  capital. 
The  Gileadites  had  now,  however,  with  all  the  rest  of  Israel, 
acquired  sufficient  spirit  to  resolve  no  longer  tamely  to 
submit  to  their  oppressors,  and  they,  therefore,  hastily 
brought  together  all  the  forces  they  could  muster,  and 
encamped  at  Mizpeh.  But  the  Almighty  had  not  yet 
designated  their  leader,  and  they  were,  therefore,  for  some 
time,  greatly  perplexed  to  determine  upon  whom  to  confer 
the  office  of  general.  At  length,  however,  they  thought 
of  Jephthah,  and,  being  familiar  with  the  manner  in  which 
he  had  recently,  on  various  occasions,  signalized  himself 
against  the  enemy,  they  dispatched  messengers  to  him,  to 
offer  him  the  command  of  the  army.  Without  any  pre- 
paratory steps,  these  messengers,  as  soon  as  they  came 
into  the  presence  of  Jephthah,  said  to  him,  "  Come  and 
be  our  captain,  that  we  may  fight  with  the  children  of 
Ammon."  To  this  invitation  from  the  elders  of  Gilead, 
Jephthah  haughtily  replied,  "  Did  not  ye  hate  me,  and 
expel  me  out  of  my  father's  house  ?  And  why  aro  ye 
come  unto  me  now  when  ye  are  in  distress?"  Evading 
these  taunting  inquiries  of  Jephthah,  the  elders  of  Gilead 


THE     JUDGES.  141 

not  only  assured  him  that  they  were  anxious  to  have  him 
become  their  leader,  but  even  confirmed  their  declaration 
by  a  solemn  oath,  saying,  "  The  Lord  be  witness  between 
us,  i-f  we  do  not  so  according  to  thy  words."  Being  thus 
assured  of  the  earnestness  and  sincerity  of  the  Gileadites, 
Jephthah  at  length  consented  to  assume  the  charge  of  the 
v^ar  against  the  Ammonites ;  and  the  people  having  made 
him  '"head  and  captain  over  them,"  he  immediately  repaired 
to  Mizpeh,  where,  in  the  presence  of  the  Almighty,  the 
solemn  engagement  into  which  they  had  mutually  entered, 
was  fully  ratified. 

Jephthah  being  thus  invested  with  the  government  and 
command  of  the  Gileadites,  sent  messengers  from  Mizpeh 
to  the  king  of  the  Ammonites,  to  demand  the  reason  why 
he  had  invaded  their  country.  To  this  demand  the  king 
of  Ammon  replied,  that  the  land  belonged  to  him,  and  not 
to  the  Gileadites — that  the  Israelites,  in  their  march  from 
Egypt,  had  taken  it  from  his  ancestors,  and  that  he  was 
resolved  to  recover  it.  Jephthah,  still  anxious  to  avoid  a 
hostile  meeting,  sent  a  second  message  to  the  king  of  Am- 
mon, in  which  he  expostulated  with  him  on  the  unjustness 
of  his  claim  to  the  country,  as  the  Israelites  took  it  origi- 
nally from  the  Amorites,  and  the  Gileadites  had  enjoyed 
the  quiet  possession  €f  it  for  more  than  three  hundred 
years.  The  haughty  reply  which  the  king  of  the  Ammon- 
ites ■  returned  to  this  message,  brought  matters  to  a 
crisis ;  and  Jephthah,  perceiving  that  all  farther  remon- 
strance would  be  fruitless,  immediately  prepared  for  the 
conflict. 

Having  marshalled  his  army,  Jephthah  placed  himself 
at  their  head,  and  at  once  advanced  towards  that  of  the  Am- 
monites. Halting  near  the  army  of  the  enemy,  he  oifered 
a  devout  and  fervent  supplication  to  the  Almighty  for  suc- 
cess, closing  his  prayer  with  the  following  extraordinary 


142  THE     ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

VOW :  "  If  thou  shalt  without  fail  deliver  the  children  of 
Ammon  into  my  hands,  then  it  shall  be  that  whatever 
Cometh  forth  of  the  doors  of  my  house  to  meet  me,  when 
I  return  in  peace  from  ihe  children  of  Ammon,  shall  surely 
be  the  Lord's,  or  I  will  ofler  it  up  for  a  burnt-oft'ering." 
A  desperate  battle  between  the  contending  parties  immedi- 
ately lollowed  this  solemn  vow,  in  the  course  of  which  the 
Ammonites  were  totally  routed,  vast  numbers  of  them  being 
slain  on  the  field,  while  those  who  attempted  to  save  them- 
selves by  flight  were  hotly  pursued,  overtaken,  and  all  put 
to  the  sword.  Animated  by  the  success  of  this  first  action, 
Jephthah  pushed  forward  his  conquests,  and  destroyed,  in 
rapid  succession,  twenty  cities  of  the  Ammanites,  with  all 
their  inhabitants,  laying  waste  the  whole  country  wherever 
he  went. 

The  power  of  the  Ammonites  being  thus  destroyed,  and 
the  Israelites  happily  extricated  out  of  all  their  troubles, 
and  relieved  from  the  oppressive  burthens  under  which 
they  had  so  long  groaned,  Jephthah  returned  in  triumph 
to  his  own  country,  and  was  received  with  acclamations  of 
joy  throughout  the  land. 

Jephthah,  having  received  the  general  congratulations 
of  the  Gileadites,  hastened  to  his  own  house,  on  approach- 
ing which,  his  daughter,  an  only  chifd,  joyfully  came  forth 
to  meet  him.  "  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  he  saw  her, 
that  he  rent  his  clothes,  and  said,  '  Alas,  my  daughter, 
thou  hast  brought  me  very  low,  and  thou  art  one  of  them 
that  trouble  me ;  for  I  have  opened  my  mouth  unto  the 
Lord,  and  I  cannot  go  back.'  And  sh-e  said  unto  him, 
'  My  father,  if  thou  hast  opened  thy  mouth  unto  the  Lord, 
do  to  me  according  to  that  which  hath  proceeded  out  of 
thy  mouth ;  forasmuch  as  the  Lord  hath  taken  vengeance 
for  thee  on  thine  enemies,  even  of  the  children  of  Ammon.' 
And  she  said  unto  her  father,  '  Let  this  thing  be  done  for 


THE     JUDGES.  143 

me ;  let  me  alone  two  months,  that  I  may  go  up  and  clo%vn 
upon  the  mountains,  and  bewail  my  virginity :  I  and  my 
fellows.'  And  he  said,  '  Go.'  And  he  sent  her  away  for 
two  months ;  and  she  went  with  her  companions,  and 
bewailed  her  virginity  upon  the  mountains.  And  it  came 
to  pass  at  the  end  of  two  months,  that  she  returned  to  her 
father,  who  did  with  her  according  to  the  vow  which  he 
had  vowed :  and  she  knew  no  man.  And  it  was  a  custom 
in  Israel,  that  the  daughters  of  Israel  went  yearly  to  talk 
with  the  daughter  of  Jephthah  the  Gileadite  four  days  in  a 
year."  The  deep  affliction  of  Jephthah  upon  this  occasion, 
arose  from  the  consideration,  that  his  daughter's  being 
thus  devoted  to  perpetual  virginity,  removed  from  him  all 
hopes  of  posterity,  and  that,  with  his  own  death,  therefore, 
his  name  must  perish  from  the  earth — a  calamity  than 
which  an  Israelite  could  scarcely  suffer  a  greater. 

Jephthah  having  thus  delivered  the  country  of  Gilead, 
the  possession  of  the  Reubenites,  from  the  oppression  of 
the  Ammonites,  was  prepared  to  enjoy  the  fruits  of  his  vic- 
tory in  peace,  when  a  new  trouble  arose  which'^he  had  little 
anticipated.  The  Ephraimites,  a  quarrelsome  and  ambi- 
tious people,  jealous  of  the  great  fame  which  Jephthah  had 
acquired  by  subduing  the  Ammonites,  insolently  demanded 
to  know  why  he  had  undertaken  the  war  without  con- 
sulting them,  intimating,  at  the  same  time,  that  should 
his  answer  not  be  satisfactory,  they  would  invade  Gilead, 
set  fire  to  his  house,  and  consume  him  and  his  family  in 
the  flames.  To  this  arrogant  demand,  Jephthah  replied, 
that  they  could  not  be  ignorant  of  the  oppression  which 
the  Gileadites  had  so  long  suffered,  and  that  they  had  in 
vain  applied  to  their  allies  to  aid  them  in  endeavoring  to 
reheve  themselves  of  the  burthen  which  they  had  been 
compelled  to  bear;  that  now,  however,  they  were  free; 
aiid    should    the    Ephraimites    attempt   to   disturb   their 


144  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

repose,  they  were  prepared   to   treat  them  as   they  had 
ti-eated  the  common  enemy  of  their  country. 

This  remonstrance  and  threat  of  Jephthah  served  only 
to  inflame  the  pride  and  anger  of  the  Ephraimites  ;  and 
they,  therefore,  immediately  collected  their  forces,  and 
prepared  for  battle.  Aware  of  these  preparations,  Jeph- 
thah at  once  marshalled  his  troops,  and  marched  out  to 
meet  the  Ephraimites ;  and,  in  the  desperate  conflict  that 
followed,  the  latter  were  completely  overthrown ;  great 
numbers  of  them  perished  on  the  field  of  battle,  whilst  the 
rest  were  all  put  to  flight.  To  secure  the  advantage  of 
the  triumph  thus  obtained,  Jephthah  ordered  all  the  passes 
of  the  river  Jordan  to  be  guarded,  and  such  of  the  Ephraim- 
ites as  should  attempt  to  ford  the  stream  to  be  immediately 
put  to  death.  That  those  who  were  appointed  to  watch 
the  passes  might  be  able  to  detect  an  Ephraimite,  when  ho 
came  to  the  river  to  cross,  every  passenger  was  required 
to  pronounce  the  word  S/iibboleth-^the  sound  of  the  h  in 
the  first  syllable  of  which,  being  uniformly  omitted  by  the 
whole  tribe  of  Ephraim.  By  this  means  so  many  of  the 
Ephraimites  were  seized  and  put  to  death,  that  the  num- 
ber that  perished  in  this  manner,  and  in  the  recent  action, 
amounted  to  forty-two  thousand. 

Jephthah  having  thus,  through  Divine  assistance,  sign.il- 
ized  his  valor  in  a  series  of  the  most  remarkable  successes, 
returned  in  triumph  to  Gilead,  where  he  passed  the 
remainder  of  his  life  in  peace  and  tranquillity.  From  that 
time  he  successfully  administered  the  government  of 
Israel  for  six  years,  at  the  end  of  which  he  died,  and  v/as 
buried  in  one  of  the  cities  of  Gilead,  his  native  country. 

Of  the  three  judges,  Ibzan,  Elon,  and  Abdon,  who  suc- 
ceeded Jephthah,  very  little  is  known,  farther  than  that, 
during  their  administration,  the  Israelites  enjoyed  con- 
tinuous peace  and  prospeiity. 


THE     JUDGES.  145 

Ibzan  was  of  the  tribe  of  Judah,  and  a  native  of  the 
city  of  Bethlehem.  He  had  thirty  sons  and  thirty  daugh- 
ters, and  discharged  the  duties  of  his  exalted  office  for 
seven  years  with  great  fidelity  and  success.  At  his  death, 
which  occurred  when  he  was  far  advanced  in  life,  he  was 
buried  in  Bethlehem,  his  native  city. 

Elon,  the  successor  of  Ibzan,  was  of  the  tribe  of  Zebu 
lun ;  but,  during  his  government,  which  lasted  two  years, 
nothing  material  occurred.  The  place  of  his  burial  was 
Ajalon,   one  of  the  chief  cities  of  his  native  tribe. 

Abdon,  the  son  of  Hillel,  and  the  successor  of  Elon, 
was  of  the  tribe  of  Ephraim,  and  was  greatly  beloved  by 
the  people.  He  was  far  advanced  in  life  when  he  became 
judge ;  and  after  having  governed  the  people  eight  years, 
he  died,  and  was  buried  with  unusual  pomp  and  ceremony 
in  his  native  place,  the  city  of  Pirathon.  Abdon  left  at 
his  death  forty  sons  and  thirty  nephews. 

After  the  death  of  the  last  of  the  three  excellent  judges 
whom  we  have  thus  briefly  noticed,  the  Israelites,  being 
again  left  without  the  authority  of  a  visible  leader,  relapsed 
into  theii*  old  impieties,  in  consequence  of  which,  the  Al- 
mighty permitted  the  Philistines  to  invade  and  conquer 
their  territory,  and  to  keep  the  people,  for  the  space  of 
forty  years,  in  the  most  abject  state  of  servitude.  At  the 
expiration  of  that  time,  the  following  extraordinary  inci- 
dents occurred,  and  in  the  event,  happily  wrought  out 
Israel's  deliverance :  * 

A  certain  man,  named  Manoah,  of  the  tribe  of  Dan,  had 
lived  many  years  in  a  state  of  wedlock  with  his  wife,  but 
ihey  still  remained  childless.  At  length,  their  anxiety  for 
offspring  became  so  great  and  distiessing,  that  they  unitedly 
supplicated  the  Almighty  to  bestow  upon  them  a  child. 
To  their  petition  God  was  pleased  to  listen ;  and  he 
accordingly  sent  his  angel  to  the  woman,  saying  unto  her, 


J. 16  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

*'  Behold,  thou  sbalt  conceive  and  bear  a  son ;  and  no  razor 
shall  come  on  his  head ;  for  the  child  shall  be  a  Nazarite 
from  the  womb ;  and  he  shall  begin  to  deliver  Israel  out 
of  the  hands  of  the  Philistines."  This  pleasing  announce- 
ment Manoah's  wife  no  sooner  heard,  than  she  hastened 
to  her  husband  to  impart  the  welcome  intelligence  to  him ; 
upon  hearing  which,  he  earnestly  prayed  that  the  gra- 
cious message  might  be  repeated.  When,  however,  in 
compliance  with  his  request,  the  heavenly  messenger,  in  the 
presence  of  both  himself  and  his  wife,  repeated  the  an- 
nouncement, they  were  overwhelmed  with  the  awful  con- 
sciousness, that  they  had  been  conversing  with  a  messenger 
sent  from  the  Almighty ;  and,  prostrating  themselves  upon 
the  earth,  Manoah  exclaimed,  "  We  shall  surely  die,  because 
we  have  seen  God."  His  wife,  however,  more  courageous 
and  composed,  replied,  "  If  the  Lord  were  pleased  to  kill 
us,  he  would  not  have  shewed  us  all  these  things,  nor 
would,  as  at  this  time,  have  told  us  such  things  as  these." 

At  the  appointed  period,  the  promised  son  was  born, 
and  Manoah  called  his  name  Samson,  which  signifies 
strong.  At  this  time,  the  intercourse  of  the  Israelites  and 
the  Philistines  with  each  other,  had  became  so  familiar, 
that  the  former  lost,  comparatively,  the  consciousness  of 
their  degradation,  and  intermarriages  between  the  two 
nations  were,  consequently,  a  matter  of  frequent  occurrence. 
Samson,  meantime,  reached  the  age  of  maturity,  and, 
yisHing  the  Philistine  city,  *Timnath,  he  there  saw,  and 
soon  after  became  betrothed  to  the  daughter  of  one  of  the 
most  distinguished  citizens  of  that  place.  On  his  return 
liome  he  informed  his  parents  of  all  that  had  passed  during 
his  absence,  and  of  the  engagement  into  which  he  had 
entered  >vith  the  daughter  of  the  Philistine. 

Aware,  ^s  Samson's  parents  were,  that  God  designed  to 
effect  the  deliverance  of  Israel  through  th^  agency  qf  their 


THE     JUDGES.  147 

son,  they  earnestly  remonstrated  with  him  on  the  impro- 
priety of  the  alliance  he  proposed  to  form.  Their  re- 
monstrances, however,  all  proving  ineffectual,  they  finally 
consented  to  accompany  him  to  Timnath,  there  to  wit- 
ness the  consummation  of  his  most  ardent  wishes,  in  the 
arrangement  of  a  marriage  contract.  On  their  way  thither 
Samson  gave  an  earnest  of  that  extraordinary  personal 
strength  which  afterwards  became  his  most  striking  char- 
acteristic. Unarmed  and  alone,  he  attacked  and  slew  a 
ravenous  lion,  and  cast  his  carcase  into  a  ditch.  Some 
time  after,  as,  with  his  parents,  he  was  going  by  the  same 
road  to  Timnath  to  celebrate  his  marriage,  he  recollected 
the  incident  of  his  struggle  with  the  lion,  and,  turning 
aside  to  examine  the  carcase,  he  was  astonished  to  find  it 
occupied  by  a  swarm  of  bees,  and  filled  with  honey. 
Taking  out  some  pieces  of  the  honey-comb,  to  refresh 
himself  on  his  way,  he  resumed  his  journey  ;  and  when  he 
overtook  his  parents,  who  had  gone  on  in  advance  of  him, 
he  imparted  of  the  delicious  fare  to  them,  without  inform- 
ing them  where  he  had  obtained  it. 

Immediately  after  the  arrival  of  Samson  and  his  party 
at  Timnath,  the  marriage  ceremony  was,  with  great  splen- 
dor, performed  ;  and,  to  heighten  the  seven  days'  rejoicing 
on  the  occasion,  thirty  young  Philistines  had  been  invited 
by  Samson's  father-in-law,  to  attend  as  his  associates.  At 
the  close  of  the  first  day,  while  hilarity  and  unbounded 
enjoyment  prevailed,  Samson  proposed  to  his  young  com- 
panions a  riddle — ofi'ering,  at  the  same  time,  should  they 
be  able  to  solve  it,  a  complete  change  of  raiment  to  each 
of  them— and  claiming,  should  they  fail  in  their  solution, 
a  change  from  each  in  return.  To  this  proposal  they  readily 
acceded ;  when  Samson  announced  for  the  trial  of  their 
skill,  "Out  of  the  eater  came  forth  meat,  and  out  of 
the  strong  came  forth  sweetness."     The  young  Philistines, 


148  THE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

for  the  first  six  days,  endeavored  in  vain  to  solve  the  rid- 
dle ;  and,  not  to  be  baffled,  they,  on  the  morning  of  the 
seventh  day,  secretly  threatened  Samson's  wife,  that, 
should  she  not  obtain  from  him  the  solution,  and  commu- 
nicate it  to  them,  they  would  set  fire  to  the  house,  and 
consume  both  herself  and  her  father  in  the  flames.  This 
threat  had  the  desired  efi'ect ;  by  her  entreaties  she  drew 
from  Samson  the  story  of  the  lion  and  the  honey,  and 
communicated  it  to  them  ;  and  when  the  evening  of  the 
day  arrived,  one  of  the  company,  in  behalf  of  himself  and 
his  associates,  gave,  as  the  solution  to  the  riddle :  "  What 
is  sweeter  than  honey  ?  and  what  is  stronger  than  a 
Hon?" 

Indignant  at  the  manner  in  which  he  had  been  over- 
reached, Samson  immediately  replied,  "If  ye  had  not 
ploughed  with  my  heifer,  ye  had  not  found  out  my  rid- 
dle." But  notwithstanding  the  deception  thus  passed 
upon  him,  he  resolved  still  to  be  faithful  to  his  engage- 
ment. "  And  the  spirit  of  the  Lord  came  upon  him,  and 
he  went  down  to  Ashkelon,  and  slew  thirty  men  of  them, 
and  took  their  spoil,  and  gave  change  of  garments  unto 
them  which  expounded  the  riddle." 

Having  thus  literally  discharged  his  obligation  to  the 
young  Philistines,  Samson  suddenly  left  his  wife  at  Tim- 
nath,  and  went  home  to  his  father's  house.  But  his  anger 
for  the  wrong  that  had  been  done  him  by  the  Philistines 
soon  subsiding,  his  affection  for  his  wife  returned  in  all 
its  strength;  and  he  now,  therefore,  hastened  to  her 
father's  house,  to  renew  the  expressions  of  his  attachment 
to  her.  He  had,  however,  no  sooner  arrived  at  Timnath, 
than  he  was  informed  that  his  wife  had  been  given,  during 
his  absence,  to  the  one  of  the  thirty  young  Philistines  who 
had  expounded  his  riddle. 

This  base  treatment  Sarasor.  did  not  attribute  so  much 


THE     JUDGES.  149 

to  the  want  of  faithfulness  on  the  part  of  his  father-in-law, 
as  to  a  fixed  purpose  of  the  Philistines  to  insult  and  injure 
him ;  and  he  resolved,  therefore,  to  be  revenged  on  the 
whole  nation.  The  Philistine  harvest  being  now  ripe, 
and  the  corn  ready  to  be  gathered,  he  took  three  hundred 
foxes,  and,  tying  them  together  by  the  tails,  in  pairs,  he 
placed  a  lighted  torch  between  each  pair,  and  turned  them 
all  into  the  open  fields.  The  foxes,  in  alarm,  ran  in  every 
direction ;  and  thus  setting  fire,  not  only  to  the  corn,  but 
also  to  the  vines  and  olive  trees,  soon  desolated  all  the 
surrounding  country. 

The  Philistines  who  had  suffered  in  this  general  de- 
struction of  their  property,  understanding  that  Samson 
was  the  author  of  it,  and  that  he  had  been  induced  to  take 
this  method  of  revenging  himself  for  the  insult  which  he 
had  received  from  his  wife's  family,  immediately  hastened 
to  Timnath,  and  regarding  his  wife  and  her  father  as  the 
original  cause  of  this  great  calamity,  at  once  seized  and 
burned  them  alive.  This  cruel  treatment  of  a  wife  whom 
he  still  dearly  loved,  only  irritated  Samson  the  more 
against  the  Philistines ;  and  he,  therefore,  immediately  fell 
upon  a  large  body  of  them,  exhibiting  such  prodigious 
strength,  and  so  great  activity,  that  but  few  escaped  with 
their  lives.  Conscious  that  so  rigorous  a  procedure 
would  only  farther  inflame  the  already  incensed  Philis- 
tines, he  fled  into  the  country  of  Judah,  and  took  refuge 
on  the  top  of  the  rock  Etam — a  stronghold  which  could 
be  approached  by  one  path  only,  and  that  so  narrow  as 
not  to  admit  two  persons  abreast. 

Samson's  retreat  soon  becoming  known  to  the  Philis- 
tines, they  pursued  him  thither ;  and  halting  at  Lehi  they 
sent  a  body  of  three  thousand  of  his  countrymen  to  Etam, 
to  take  him  prisoner,  and  deliver  him  into  their  hands. 
As  soon  as  the  men  of  Judah  came  into  the  presence  of 


150  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

Samson,  they,  through  fear  of  their  oppressors,  began  to 
expostulate  with  him,  saying,  "  Knowest  thou  not  that  the 
Philistines  are  rulers  over  us?  What  is  this  that  thou 
hast  done  unto  usf  To  this  expostulation,  Samson 
simply  replied,  "  As  they  did  unto  me,  so  have  I  done; 
unto  them."  He  permitted  himself,  however,  to  be  bound 
with  cords,  and  taken  to  the  Philistines ;  but  he  had  no 
sooner  reached  their  camp,  and  heard  their  shoutings  at 
his  captivity,  than  "the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  came  mightily 
upon  him,  and  the  cords  that  were  upon  his  arms  became 
as  flax  that  was  burnt  with  fire,  and  his  bands  loosed  from 
off'  his  hands.  And  he  found  a  new  jaw-bone  of  an  ass, 
and  put  forth  his  hand  and  took  it,  and  slew  a  thousand 
men  therewith." 

This  prodigious  slaughter  of  their  countrymen  so  in- 
timidated the  rest  of  the  Philistine  army,  that,  instead  of 
attempting  to  resist  the  power  of  Samson's  single  arm, 
they  immediately  sought  safety  in  flight.  The  fatigue 
which  followed  this  wonderful  effort  against  the  Philis- 
tines, prostrated  Samson  to  the  earth ;  and  being  "  sore 
athirst,  he  called  unto  the  Lord  and  said:  Thou  hast 
given  this  great  deliverance  into  the  hand  of  thy  servant, 
and  now  shall  I  die  of  thirst,  and  fall  into  the  hands  of 
the  uncircumcised  ?"  But  God  soon  relieved  his  distress, 
by  miraculously  causing  water  to  flow  copiously  forth 
from  an  adjacent  rock.  And  Samson  called  that  place 
En-hakkore,  or  the  well  of  him  that  called. 

This  wonderful  display  of  personal  prowess  by  Samson, 
wrought  out  the  complete  deliverance  of  the  Israelites 
from  Philistine  oppression :  and  thenceforth  he,  for  many 
years,  judged  the  people  with  entire  success.  He  was 
from  his  youth,  however,  of  a  roving  disposition ;  and 
having,  on  one  occasion,  entered  the  city  of  Gaza,  he  was 
soon  recognized  by  the  governor,  who  determined  to  have 


THE     JUDGES.  151 

him  seized  and  2)ut  to  death.  With  this  view  he  ordered 
the  city  guards,  should  Samson  attempt  to  leave  the  city 
during  the  night,  to  capture  and  confine  him ;  but  he 
baffled  the  governor's  design,  by  rising  at  midnight,  going 
to  the  gates  of  the  city  and  taking  them,  together  with  the 
posts  and  the  bars  that  fastened  them,  upon  his  shoulders, 
he  carrried  the  whole  "to  the  top  of  a  hill  that  is 
before  Hebron,"  and  there  left  them  in  full  view  of  both 
cities. 

In  the  latter  part  of  his  life,  Samson  permitted  himself 
to  fall  in  love  with  Delilah,  a  beautiful  woman,  dwelling  in 
the  vale  of  Sorek.  This  unfortunate  amour  cost  him  both 
his  liberty  and  his  life ;  for,  having  revealed  to  her  that 
the  secret  of  his  strength  lay  in  the  preservation  of  his 
hair,  she  embraced  the  opportunity,  while  he  was  asleep, 
to  have  his  hair  cut  off,  and  in  this  hapless  condition  de- 
livered him  into  the  hands  of  the  Philistines.  The  Philis- 
tines first  put  out  his  eyes,  and  then  conducted  him  to 
Gaza,  where  they  confined  him  in  prison,  and  compelled 
him  to  grind  corn  at  a  hand-mill,  like  a  common  slave. 
Having  now  in  their  possession  their  dreaded  and  most 
inveterate  enemy,  the  Philistines  appointed  a  certain  day 
on  which  all  the  princes,  nobility,  and  heads  of  the  people 
were  to  assemble  together  at  Gaza,  to  return  thanks  to 
their  god  Dagon,  for  delivering  Samson  into  their  hands. 

In  the  mean  time,  Samson's  hair  grew  out  again,  and 
with  its  growth  all  his  former  strength  returned;  but 
the  Philistines,  not  aware  of  this  circumstance,  resolved, 
in  the  midst  of  their  rejoicings,  to  divert  themselves  at  his 
expense.  AVith  this  view  they  brought  him  forth  out  of 
his  prison,  and  placed  him  in  the  midst  of  the  spacious 
hall  in  which  they  were  assembled,  and,  as  he  leaned 
against  the  two  columns  by  which  the  building  was  chiefly 
supported,  he  earnestly  prayed  to   the  Almighty,  saying, 


Jo2  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

*'  0  Lord  God,  remember  me,  I  pray  thee,  and  strengthen 
me,  I  pray  thee,  only  this  once,  0  God,  that  I  may  be  at 
once  revenged  of  the  Philistines  for  my  two  eyes."  Having 
prayed  thus,  Samson  grasped  the  two  principal  columns  of 
the  building,  one  with  each  arm,  and  exclaiming,  "  Let  me 
die  with  the  Philistines,"  put  forth  such  prodigious  strength, 
that  he  forced  the  columns  from  their  basis,  and  the  whole 
building  immediately  fell  to  the  ground,  burying  Samson 
himself,  together  with  three  thousand  of  the  Philistines, 
under  its  ruiiis.  When  his  relations  heard  of  his  death, 
they  came  down  to  Gaza,  obtained  his  body,  and  buried 
it  m  the  tomb  of  his  ancestors. 

Thus  fell  Samson,  after  having  judged  Israel  twenty 
years ;  and  when  we  reflect  that  he  was  raised  up  by  God, 
for  the  especial  purpose  of  punishing  the  Philistines,  we 
cannot  regard  his  death  otherwise  than  heroic.  But,  as  he 
was  called  and  sanctified  from  his  birth,  and  set  apart  to 
deliver,  by  his  personal  strength  alone,  and  almost  without 
the  aid  of  weapons,  the  Israelites  out  of  the  hands  of  their 
enemies,  he  assumes  another  aspect,  and  becomes  a  singular 
and  most  significant  type  of  the  Messiah. 


SECTION    VI. 


Em,  High-priest  and  Judge— Birth  of  Samuel — Dedicated  to  the  Ser- 
A  ice  of  the  Almighty — ^^The  Sons  of  Eli  rejected  from  the  Priestly 
Office — God  appears  to  Samuel  in  the  night — Sends  a  Message  by 
Him  to  Eli— Samuel  established  as  aProphet  of  the  Lord — The  Ark 
captured  by  the  Philistines,  and  the  Sons  of  Eli  slain— Death  of  Eli 
—The  Ark  restored,  and  Samuel  judges  Israel — Defeat  of  the  Philis- 
tines— The  Sons  of  Samuel  associated  with  him  in  the  Government — 
Their  unworthy  Character — The  Government  changed  to  a  Monarchy. 

During  the  greater  part  of  the  eventful  life  of  Samson, 
Eli  filled  the  office  of  high-priest,  and  on  the  death  of  that 
distinguished  hero,  the  latter  added  to  his  priestly  dignity 


THE     JUDGES.  153 

that  of  ruler,  also,  of  the  people.  This  important  event 
occurred  when  Eli  was  fifty-eight  years  of  age;  and, 
though  the  government  remained  in  his  hands  forty  years, 
yet  his  administration  was  much  less  prosperous  and 
happy  than  had  been  the  administration  of  any  of  his 
predecessors. 

The  first  important  event  that  occurred  after  Eli  became 
judge  of  Israel,  was  the  birth  of  the  prophet  Samuel. 
Elkanah,  of  the  city  of  Kamah,  and  of  the  tribe  of  Eph- 
raim,  had,  as  was  at  that  time  a  common  custom  among 
the  Israelites,  two  wives,  Hannah  and  Peninnah ;  and 
while  the  latter  brought  him  numerous  offspring,  the 
former  remained  childless.  This  was  a  source  of  deep  and 
constant  grief  to  Hannah  ;  and,  therefore,  on  one  occasion, 
when  she  went  up  to  Shiloh  with  her  husband,  to  present 
their  yearly  sacrifice  before  the  Lord,  she  repaired  to  the 
Tabernacle,  at  the  door  of  which  sat  Eli,  the  high-priest, 
and  there  falling  upon  her  knees,  she  prayed  with  the 
utmost  earnestness,  that  God  would  remove  the  cause  of 
her  affliction,  by  blessing  her  with  a  son — promising  that, 
should  her  request  be  granted,  she  would  dedicate  his  life 
to  the  Lord,  and  no  razor  should  come  upon  his  head. 

Eli,  from  the  peculiar  attitude  of  Hannah,  and  from  the 
motion  of  her  lips,  unaccompanied  by  words,  supposed  she 
was  intoxicated;  and  he,  therefore,  rebuked  her,  saying, 
"  How  long  wilt  thou  be  drunken  ?  Put  away  thy  wine 
from  thee."  To  this  severe  rebuke  Hannah  replied,  "  No, 
my  lord,  I  am  a  woman  of  a  sorrowful  spirit.  I  have  drunk 
neither  wine  nor  strong  drink,  but  have  poured  out  my 
soul  before  the  Lord.  Count  not  thine  handmaid  for  a 
daughter  of  Belial,  for  out  of  the  abundance  of  my  com- 
plaint and  grief  have  I  spoken  hitherto."  Eli  no  sooner 
perceived,  from  this  reply,  that  he  had  mistaken  the  charac- 
ter of  Hannah,  than  he  turned  his  reproach  into  a  blessing, 
7* 


154  THE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

saying  unto  her,  "  Go  in  peace,  and  the  God  of  Israel  grant 
thee  thy  petition  that  thou  hast  asked  of  him."  The  bene- 
diction thus  pronounced  upon  her  by  the  high-priest,  and 
his  prayer  for  the  success  of  her  petition,  entirely  removed 
the  burthen  from  Hannah's  heart ;  and  she,  therefore, 
returned  from  the  Tabernacle  to  Elkanah,  her  husband, 
with  a  countenance  from  which  all  traces  of  sadness  were 
removed. 

Their  closing  devotions  at  Shiloh  having  been  performed, 
Elkanah  and  his  family  returned  to  Eamah,  and  in  due 
course  of  time  Hannah  gave  birth  to  a  son,  whom  she  called 
Samuel,  which  signifies,  asked  of  the  Lord.  Faithful  to  her 
promise,  Hannah,  as  soon  as  her  son  had  arrived  at  a  suita- 
ble age  to  be  separated  from  his  mother,  repaired,  with  her 
husband  and  family,  to  the  Tabernacle  at  Shiloh,  and  there, 
presenting  the  child  to  Eli,  the  high-priest,  solemnly  dedi- 
cated him  to  the  service  of  the  Almighty.  It  was  on  this 
occasion  that  Hannah  composed  and  sung,  in  the  presence 
of  Eli  and  the  other  priests  of  the  Tabernacle,  that  beauti- 
ful hymn  of  thanksgiving  which  is  found  in  the  beginning 
of  the  second  chapter  of  the  first  Book  of  Samuel. 

The  vow  of  Hannah  having  been  thus  performed,  in  the 
public  dedication  of  the  child  Samuel  to  the  service  of  the 
Almighty,  she,  with  her  husband,  prepared  to  return  to 
Ramah ;  but,  before  they  departed,  Eli  pronounced  a 
blessing  upon  them,  saying  to  Elkanah,  "  The  Lord  give 
thee  seed  of  this  woman,  for  the  loan  which  is  lent  to  the 
Lord."  He  then,  in  their  presence,  clothed  Samuel  in  a 
habit  suited  to  his  new  situation,  and  placed  over  his  dress 
a  linen  ephod,  that  he  might  at  once  enter  upon  the  ser- 
vice of  the  Tabernacle.  Elkanah  and  Hannah  immediately 
after  departed  for  their  home,  and,  in  the  course  of  a  few 
years,  realized  the  fruits  of  the  blessing  of  the  high-priest, 
in  the  birth  of  three  sons  and  two  daughters. 


THE    JUDGES.  155 

The  treasure  which  the  parents  of  Samuel  had  commit- 
ted to  the  custody  of  the  high-priest  Eli,  was  guarded  by 
him  with  the  utmost  care ;  and  the  early  development  of 
the  child's  character,  consequently,  evinced  the  anxiety 
and  attention  which  his  education  and  training  must  have 
elicited.  His  amiable  deportment  and  intelligent  mind 
soon,  indeed,  rendered  him  a  universal  favorite,  and  formed 
a  striking  contrast  with  Eli's  own  sons,  Hophni  and  Phine- 
as,  both  of  whom,  notwithstanding  their  exalted  station, 
were  libertines.  The  outrageous  treatment  which  both 
men  and  women,  when  they  came  to  the  Tabernacle  to 
offer  their  oblations,  received  from  these  base  priests,  soon 
brought  even  religion  itself  into  contempt ;  and  the  worship 
of  the  Almighty,  consequently,  fell  into  general  disuse. 
Of  the  depravity  of  his  sons,  and  of  their  wicked  conduct, 
Eli  Avas  not  ignorant ;  and,  therefore,  because  he  did  not 
punish  them  as  they  deserved,  God  sent  a  prophet  to  him 
to  announce  the  ejection  of  his  family  from  the  priestly 
office,  and  their  utter  destruction. 

Soon  after  this  awful  denunciation  was  pronounced  upon 
the  family  of  Eli  by  the  strange  prophet,  God  ajDpeared  to 
the  youthful  Samuel  under  circumstances  of  peculiar  inte- 
rest. He  was  alone  in  the  apartment  of  the  Tabernacle  in 
which  he  lodged,  and,  soon  after  he  had  retired  to  rest,  he 
heard  the  voice  of  the  Almighty  calling  him  distinctly  by 
his  name.  Mistaking  the  voice  for  that  of  the  high-priest, 
he  immediately,  in  accordance  with  the  custom  of  the  age, 
answered,  "  Here  am  /,"  and  then  hastened  to  the  apart- 
ment of  Eli  to  know  his  pleasure.  Eli,  surprised  at  this 
singular  incident,  told  Samuel  that  he  had  not  only  not 
called  him,  but  had  not  even  mentioned  his  name  since 
they  had  last  met.  Supposing,  therefore,  that  he  had 
been  mistaken,  Samuel  returned  to  his  lodging  room,  and 
retired  again  to  rest;  but,  to  his  utter  astonishment,  tha 


156  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWg. 

same  voice  again  called  him  three  times.  Assured  that  he 
could  not  })ossibly  be  now  mistaken,  Samuel  once  more 
repaired  to  Eli,  and  told  him  that  the  call  had  been  re- 
peated ;  upon  whicli  the  high-priest,  knowing  that  the 
voice  must  have  proceeded  from  heaven,  directed  Samuel 
to  retire  again  to  rest,  and  should  the  voice  be  repeated,  to 
answer,  '''Speak,  Lord,  for  thy  servant  heareihr 

Samuel  had  no  sooner  retired  again  to  rest,  than  the  call 
of  the  Almighty  came  a  third  time  to  him,  and,  replying  to 
it  in  accordance  with  the  direction  of  Eli,  he  received  the 
following  awful  communication  respecting  the  high-priest 
and  his  family :  "  Behold,  I  Avill  do  a  thing  in  Israel,  at 
which  both  the  ears  of  every  one  that  heareth  it  shall 
tingle.  In  that  day  I  will  perform  against  Eli  all  things 
which  I  have  spoken  against  his  house.  When  I  begin  I 
will  make  an  end,  for  I  have  told  him  that  I  will  judge  hia 
house  forever,  for  the  iniquity  which  he  knoweth,  because 
his  sons  made  themselves  vile  and  he  restrained  them  not. 
And,  therefore,  I  have  sworn  to  the  house  of  Eli,  that  the 
iniquity  of  Eli's  house  shall  not  be  purged  with  sacrifice 
nor  offering  forever."  This  sentence  was  so  terrible,  that 
Samuel,  for  some  time,  hesitated  to  acquaint  Eli  with  it; 
but  at  length,  urged  by  the  high-priest,  he  communicated 
to  him  the  message,  without  the  least  reserve ;  when  Eli 
heard  which,  he,  in  entire  resignation  to  the  Divine  will, 
meekly  replied,  "  It  is  the  Lord,  let  him  do  what  seemeth 
him  good." 

Soon  after  this  first  revelation  of  the  Almighty  to 
Samuel,  he  appeared  again  to  him  at  Shiloh ;  and,  thence- 
fortb,  "  all  Israel,  from  Dan  even  to  Beersheba,  knew 
that  Samuel  was  established  to  be  a  prophet  of  the  Lord;" 
and  all  his  communications  to  the  people  were,  therefore, 
received  with  implicit  confidence.  Indeed,  prophetic  reve- 
lations had  now,  for  many  years,  been  so  rarely  made  to 


THE     JUDGES.  157 

the  Israelites,  that  when  they  found  that  God  had  really 
appointed  Samuel  to  the  prophetic  office,  they  greatly 
rejoiced,  imagining  that  whatever  they  should  undertake 
in  future,  must  necessarily  be  attended  with  success. 
Under  this  delusion,  they  resoked  to  rescue  themselves, 
at  once,  out  of  the  hands  of  the  Philistines;  and,  with 
this  view,  they  immediately  marched  their  forces  from 
Shiloh,  and  encamped  at  a  place  afterwards  called  Ebe- 
nezer. 

The  Philistines,  perceiving  the  movements  of  the  Israel- 
ites, also  prepared  for  the  conflict,  and,  leading  forth  their 
army,  they  encamped  at  Aphek,  a  city  belonging  to  the 
tribe  of  Judah.  On  the  following  day  the  two  armies  met, 
and  a  desperate  battle  ensued,  in  which  four  thousand  of 
the  Israelites  fell,  and  the  rest  were  put  to  flight.  Im- 
puting this  defeat,  however,  to  the  absence  of  the  Ark  of 
the  Lord,  they  immediately  dispatched  messengers  to 
Hophni  and  Phineas,  requesting  them  to  hasten  to  the 
army,  and  to  bring  the  Ark  with  them.  The  joy  of  the 
Israelitish  army  on  the  reception  of  the  Ark  in  the  camp, 
was  unbounded;  and  they,  therefore,  immediately  attacked 
the  Philistines  with  the  utmost  fury.  The  result,  however, 
proved  fatal  to  them ;  for,  no  less  than  thirty  thousand  of 
them,  among  whom  were  Hophni  and  Phineas,  were  left 
dead  on  the  field  of  battle,  and  the  sacred  Ark  itself  fell 
into  the  hands  of  the  enemy. 

When  intelligence  of  this  fatal  overthrow  of  their  army 
reached  Shiloh,  all  Israel  was  at  once  thrown  into  a  state 
of  the  utmost  consternation.  Eli,  the  high-priest,  howev^, 
regarded  the  disaster  as  a  merited  punishment  from  the 
Lord,  and  received  even  the  news  of  the  death  of  his  two 
sons  in  meek  submission  to  the  Divine  will.  But  when  he 
was  informed  that  the  Ark  of  the  Lord  had  been  captured 
by  the  Philistines,  "  he  fell  from  his  seat  backward,  by  the 


158  THE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

side  of  the  gate,  and  his  neck  brake  and  he  died."  Thus 
died  Eli,  the  high-priest,  in  the  ninety-eighth  year  of  his 
age,  after  having  governed  Israel  forty  years.  The  wife 
of  Phineas  was  also  so  much  overcome  by  the  intelligence 
of  the  capture  of  the  Ark,  that  she  gave  premature  birth  to 
a  son,  immediately  after  which  she  expired ;  but,  before 
her  death,  she  named  her  child  Ichabod :  "  For,"  said 
she,  "  the  glory  is  departed  from  Israel ;  for  the  Ark  of 
of  God  is  taken." 

The  capture  of  the  Ark  was  regarded  by  the  Philistines 
as  an  occasion  of  unbounded  exultation  ;  and  they,  accord- 
ingly, carried  it  immediately  after  their  victory  in  triumph 
to  Ashdod,  one  of  their  principal  cities,  and  placed  it  in 
the  temple  of  Dagon,  by  the  side  of  the  image  of  the  idol 
there  worshiped.  Eesorting  to  the  temple  soon  after,  the 
people  were  surprised  to  find  their  favorite  idol,  not  only 
prostrate  before  the  Ark,  but  with  his  head  and  both  his 
hands  broken  off;  and  they,  therefore,  at  once  inferred 
that  Dagon,  after  all,  was  far  inferior  to  the  God  of  Israel. 
Of  the  truth  of  this  inference,  the  Almighty  soon  made 
them  sensible,  by  afflicting  the  people  of  Ashdod,  and 
other  places  in  the  vicinity,  with  a  loathsome  disease,  and 
also  by  causing  mice  to  overrun  the  surrounding  country 
in  such  vast  numbers,  that  they  destroyed  all  the  fruits  of 
the  earth. 

These  severe  inflictions  of  Divine  wrath  induced  the 
people  of  Ashdod  to  request  their  leaders  to  cause  the 
Ark  to  be  removed  from  their  city ;  and  it  was,  accordingly, 
^nt  thence  to  the  city  of  Gath.  But  as  calamities  similar 
to  those  with  which  the  Ashdodites  had  been  visited,  fol- 
lowed the  Ark  to  every  city  to  which  the  Philistines  sent  it, 
they  finally  resolved,  after  having  kept  it  in  their  posses- 
sion seven  months,  to  restore  it  to  the  Israelites.  Their 
priests  recommended  them,  however,  not  to  send  it  back 


THE     JUDGES.  159 

empty,  but  to  accompany  it  with  a  suitable  trespass-offering, 
for  the  atonement  of  their  sacrilege  ;  that  by  thus  acknow- 
ledging the  supremacy  of  the  God  of  Israel,  they  might 
hope  that  he  would  remove  from  them  the  plagues  with 
which  they  had  been  so  severely  afflicted. 

In  accordance  w  itk  the  advice  of  the  priests,  a  trespass- 
offering  was  prepared,  consisting  of  five  golden  emerods — 
figures  to  represent  the  disease  with  which  the  people  of 
Ashdod  had  been  afflicted — and  five  golden  mice.  These 
being  put  into  a  box,  were  placed,  together  with  the  Ark, 
upon  a  cart  prepared  for  the  purpose,  and,  accompanied 
by  five  of  their  princes,  were  drawn  by  two  white  milch 
cows,  that  had  never  before  been  yoked  together,  to  Beth- 
shemesh,  one  of  the  cities  of  the  Levites.  The  Israelites 
received  the  Ark,  thus  restored  to  their  possession,  with 
the  loudest  acclamations  of  joy ;  and,  having  carefully 
taken  it,  together  with  the  trespass-ofiering,  from  the 
cart  that  had  borne  them,  they  consumed  the  cart  with 
fire,  and  then  sacrificed  the  two  kine  as  a  burnt-offering  to 
the  Lord. 

But  the  joy  of  the  people  of  Bethshemesh  at  the  restora- 
tion of  the  Ark,  was  soon  turned  into  the  deepest  sorrow ; 
for  many  of  them,  in  violation  of  the  Divine  command,  in- 
dulging the  idle  curiosity  of  raising  the  lid  of  that  sacred 
vessel  to  look  into  it,  were,  as  a  just  punishment  of  their 
presumption,  instantly  struck  dead.  Alarmed  at  this  signal 
expression  of  the  Divine  displeasure,  the  people  of  Beth- 
shemesh, acknowledging  their  own  unworthlness  to  retain 
possession  of  so  sacred  a  treasure,  sent  messengers  to  the 
inhabitants  of  Kirjath-jearim,  saying  to  them,  "  The  Philis- 
tines have  brought  again  the  Ark  of  the  Lord ;  come  ye  down 
and  fetch  it  up  to  you.  And  the  men  of  Kirjath-jearim 
came  and  fetched  up  the  Ark  of  the  Lord,  and  brought  it 
to  the  house  of  Abinadab  in  the  hill,  and  sanctified  Eleazar 


160  THE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

his  son  to  keep  the  Ark  of  the  Lord.  And  it  came  to  pass, 
while  the  Ark  abode  in  Kirjath-jearim,  that  the  time  was 
long,  for  it  was  twenty  years ;  and  all  the  house  of  Israel 
lamented  after  the  Lord." 

On  tli«  death  of  Eli,  the  prophet  Samuel  assumed,  hy 
Divine  direction,  the  government  of  the  Israelites ;  and, 
assembling  the  people  together,  he  exhorted  them,  in  the 
most  solemn  and  impressive  manner,  to  put  away,  at 
once,  their  strange  gods,  Baal  and  Ashtaroth,  and  worship 
only  the  Almighty;  assuring  them  that,  should  they  do 
this  in  sincerity  and  truth,  the  God  of  Israel  would  soon 
deliver  them  out  of  the  hands  of  the  Philistines. 

To  this  address  of  Samuel,  the  people  responded  by 
loud  acclamations,  assuring  him  that  they  would  thence- 
forth implicitly  obey  the  Divine  commands.  Of  this  favor- 
able disposition  on  the  part  of  the  multitude,  Samuel 
immediately  took  advantage,  and,  summoning  a  general 
assembly  at  Mizpeh,  he  held  "  a  solemn  feast  unto  the 
Lord,"  during  which  the  people  expressed  their  penitence 
and  humility,  by  confessing  their  sins,  and  pouring  forth 
the  most  liberal  libations.  Pleased  with  the  apparent 
sincerity  of  their  sorrow  for  their  past  transgressions, 
Samuel  now  urged  them  to  persevere  in  the  reformation 
they  had  commenced,  reminding  them  that  on  such  perse- 
verance alone  depended  their  future  prosperity. 

While  the  Israelites  were  thus  humbling  themselves 
before  their  justly  offended,  but  ever  merciful  Creator,  the 
Philistines  advanced  with  a  large  army  towards  Mizpeh, 
intending  to  attack  them  during  their  devotions,  and  thus 
taking  them  by  surprise,  overcome  them  before  they  should 
have  an  opportunity  to  prepare  to  defend  themselves.  When 
the  Israelites  saw  them  approaching,  they  were  immediately 
seized  with  great  terror;  but  Samuel,  assured  that  their 
repentance  had  been  sincere  and  thorough,  bade  them  not 


THE     JUDGES.  161 

be  alarmed,  as  God  himself  ^voiild  defend  them.  He  then 
offered  in  sacrifice,  on  behalf  of  the  people,  an  immaculate 
lamb,  and,  at  the  same  time,  implored,  in  the  most  fervent 
and  dependent  manner,  the  Divine  assistance  against  their 
enemies.  This  sacrifice  and  prayer'  the  Almighty  was 
pleased  to  accept,  and,  in  return,  he  assured  vSamuel,  that 
the  Israelites,  in  the  approaching  contest  with  the  Philis- 
tines, should  obtain  a  complete  victory. 

While  the  sacrifice  of  the  Israelites  was  still  smoking  on 
the  altar,  the  army  of  the  Philistines  drew  up  in  battle 
array  against  them;  but  the  latter  had  no  sooner  begun 
the  attack,  than  such  dreadful  peals  of  thunder,  accompa- 
nied by  the  most  vivid  flashes  of  lightning,  descended 
upon  them  from  the  heavens,  that  they  were  unable  to  use 
their  arms  ;  and  thus  thrown  into  the  utmost  terror  and 
confusion,  they  all  immediately  betook  themselves  to 
flight.  Taking  advantage  of  the  disorder  of  the  Philistine 
army,  the  Israelites  pursued  them  with  great  slaughter,  as 
far  as  Bethcar,  where  8amuel  halted,  and  set  up  a  stone  to 
commemorate  the  victory — calling  the  place  Ebenezer, 
which  signifies  the  stone  of  help.  Following  up  his  victory, 
Samuel  successively  attacked  city  after  city,  until  he  had 
recovered  from  the  enemy  the  whole  country  that  lay  be- 
tween Gath  and  Ekron,  and  which  had  formerly  belonged 
to  the  Israelites,  but  had  been  wrested  out  of  their  hands 
by  the  Philistines. 

Having  thus  triumphed  over  the  most  daring  and 
powerful  of  the  enemies  of  his  country,  Samuel  restored 
the  Israelites  their  recovered  possessions,  and  then  re- 
sumed his  own  residence  at  Eamah,  where  he  soon  after 
erected  an  altar  to  the  Lord,  on  which  he  thenceforth 
oflfeied  his  sacrifices.  The  source  whence  Samuel  derived 
his  authority  for  oflBciating  in  the  offering  of  sacrifices  be- 
fore the  Lord  was,  doubtless,  his  prophetic  office ;  for,  not 


162  THE     ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

being  of  the  family  of  Aaron,  the  act  would  otherwise 
have  been  a  violation  of  the  sacerdotal  economy.  Besides 
officiating  as  priest,  Samuel  now  assumed  the  government 
of  the  people,  and  the  administration  of  justice ;  and  that 
he  might  discharge  his  secular  and  judicial  duties  the  more 
successfully,  he  made  two  circuits  annually  through  the 
whole  country,  visiting  every  important  part  of  the  land, 
and  everywhere  interposing  his  authority  to  prevent  the 
violation  of  the  laws. 

When  far  advanced  in  life,  and  unable,  from  natural 
infirmities,  longer  to  exert  the  necessary  vigilance  for  the 
successful  discharge  of  his  official  duties,  Samuel  relin- 
quished the  government  in  favor  of  his  two  sons,  Joel  and 
Abiah,  and  directed  them  to  follow,  in  all  things,  in  the 
administration  of  justice,  the  example  which  he  had  set 
them.  Joel  and  Abiah  had,  however,  scarcely  been 
invested  with  judicial  authority,  before  they  began  to  give 
evidence  of  total  unfitness  for  their  exalted  position ;  for, 
instead  of  following  the  example  of  their  distinguished 
father,  they  perverted  justice  for  gain — deciding  con- 
troversies according  to  the  value  of  the  bribe  offered,  and,  at 
the  same  time,  giving  themselves  up  in  every  other  re- 
spect to  the  practice  of  the  most  debasing  vices — setting 
at  defiance  both  the  laws  of  their  country  and  the  com- 
mands of  their  Maker. 

Having  borne  for  some  time  the  injustice  of  these  young 
men,  the  elders  of  Israel  at  length  repaired  with  their  com- 
plaints to  Samuel  at  Ramah ;  and  after  representing  to 
him  the  grievances  to  which  the  people  were  exposed 
through  his  infirmities,  and  the  maladministration  of  his 
sons,  they  demanded  to  have  the  form  of  their  govern- 
ment changed,  and  to  be  ruled,  like  other  nations,  by  a 
king.  This  demand  gave  the  aged  prophet,  for  some  time, 
great  uneasiness ;  but  having  spread  the  subject  before  the 


I49I.          IV.  THEOCRATIC  PERIOD.           1095. 

THE  WEST.     1 

THE  HEBREW  JUDGES. 

THE  EAST. 

1491 
1475 

Danaus. 

THE  EXODUS,  1491  B.C. 

Moses. 

1491I 

5-^    i     1491  B.C.     jo-- 
3J0J       LIFE  IN         «>«P- 

^'^aMWILDERUESS.bog 

i 

ft 

§ 

SS5-                                ^^a° 

- 

Death  of  Moses 

1450 

1450 

Deucalion. 
Hellen  (Greece). 

Dorus. 

5-^=^5     14S1  B.C.     i^SS- 

t; 

(1451). 

1425 

;:g:0  THE  CONQUEST. 

1 

Death  of  Joshua 

(1426). 

Cushan. 

1425 

^g-^i         (1426) 

1400 

Minos  (Crete). 

(TO  S-S  )      CAPTIVITY  TO        '     ffg- 

Sg,S  MESOPOTAMIANS  ~§^ 

1 

Othniel. 

1400 

Pelops  (1400). 

N 

gg-          (1413). 

\K 

« 

^375 

"^ 

^^? 

137s 

The  Atyadae  in 

-^§                  s"^i 

^ 

Lydia. 

^1 

1350 

i'c.                                   II  (To' 

? 

1350 

H 

^^l                             cT^S 

W- 

Eglon. 

3 

5^ 

"*  I     CAPTIVITY  TO      \   a  0  p 

1325 

Perseus. 

;?W        3I0AB1TES        '3,H^ 

1 

1325 

The    Pelasgi    in 

^ 

|:|          (132S). 

°hi 

1' 

Ehud.  Shamgar. 

1300 
1275 

Italy. 
Hercules  (b.  1262) 

3 

■^  a         CAPTIVITY  TO 

I^CANAANITES 
^%l        (130S). 
0  ^f 
So 

C5^ 

Jabin. 
Deborah. 

1300 
1275 

Orpheus. 

S  OC      CAPTIVITY   TO 

w  <1 

cr 

1250 

The    Argonauts 

(1250). 

Siege  of  Thebes 

^gj  MIDIANITES 
?  g           (12S2). 

^n^ 

n 

Gideon. 
Tola. 

1250 

1225 

(1225). 

H 

sg-                  ' 

^ 

1225 

TheHeraclidsein 

3 

S'  ci  f 

Lydia, 

is 

P  ?i      CAPTIVITY  TO 

5- 

Jair. 

1200 

Trojan  War 
(1184). 

^ 

§ 

J.^j  AMMONITES 
^  g         (1206). 

0  n  ) 

p  n 
3  a 

TO 

J  EPHTHA. 

Ibzan.  Elon. 

"75 

hi^ 

tn  ^ 

era" 

s. 

"75 

(^  SS     CAPTIVITY  TO 

2  ct 

f 

Abdon. 
Eli. 

1 150 

^ 

-IJPHILISTINES 

V 

1 150 

1 

^olic  Migration. 

"  "  j        (1186). 

P 

II2S 

Doric  Migration. 

cr3^ 

O^S 

ty 

Death  of  Samson. 

1125 

1095 

Temenus. 

dus 
riod 

t  to 
revv 

P 

Ebenezer  (battle) 
(1116). 
Saul. 

1095 

Beginning  of  the  Monarchy,  1095  B.C. 

THE     JUDGES. 


1G3 


Almiglity,  he  at  length  received  directions  from  God, 
first  to  set  before  the  people  the  consequences  which  must 
necessarily  flow  from  the  existence  of  kingly  power  among 
them ;  such  as  slavery  to  themselves  and  to  their  children, 
subjection  to  the  most  offensive  offices,  oppressive  taxes, 
constant  war,  and  many  other  evils  which  could  not  bo 
enumerated ;  and  then  should  they  still  persist  in  their  de- 
termination to  have  a  king,  to  grant  them  their  request. 

Samuel,  in  accordance  with  these  directions,  assembled 
the  people  together,  and  plainly  and  faithfully  pointed  out 
to  them  the  dangers  and  diflnculties  to  which  the  proposed 
change  in  the  form  of  their  government  would  necessarily 
expose  them;  but  it  was  all  to  no  purpose:  the  people 
still  absolutely  insisted  on  a  compliance  with  their  demand  ; 
saying,  "  Nay,  but  we  will  have  a  king  over  us,  that  we 
also  may  be  like  all  the  nations  ;  and  that  our  king  may 
judge  us,  and  go  out  before  us,  and  fight  our  battles. 
And  Samuel  heard  all  the  words  of  the  people,  and  he  re- 
hearsed them  in  the  ears  of  the  Lord.  And  the  Lord  said 
unto  Samuel,  Hearken  unto  their  voice,  and  make  them  a 
king." 


Entrance     to     a     Jewish     Sepulchre. 
(From  Lyman  AbboWs  Commentary.') 


CHAPTER   THE    FOURTH. 
THE  KINGS. 

SECTION  I. 

Saul  :  His  Election  as  King — His  "Victory  over  the  Ammonites — Hie 
Confirmation  in  the  Kingdom — Samuel  relinquishes  the  office  of 
Judge,  and  appears  thenceforth  as  a  Prophet  only — An  extraordinary 
Exploit  of  Jonathan — Defeat  of  the  Philistines — The  Offense  of  Jona- 
than— Saul's  Commission  to  extirpate  the  Amalekites — His  Diso-bedi- 
ence,  and  consequent  Rejection  from  the  Throne — David  anointed  as 
his  Successor.  • 

The  Israelites  had  hitherto  lived  as  independent  tribes 
and  families,  rather  than  as  a  distinct  nation ;  and  hence 
they  acted  in  unison  in  such  emergencies  only  as  their 
common  interests  required.  While  they  remained  in  that 
simple  condition,  they  had  no  national  character,  but  were 
under  the  immediate  supervision  and  disposal  of  the 
Almighty  himself;  and  their  circumstances  were  prosper- 
ous or  adverse,  just  in  proportion  to  their  obedience  to 
the  Divine  commands,  or  their  disregard  of  them.  Hence- 
forth, however,  we  shall  have  to  view  them  as  a  consoli- 
dated nation,  under  one  permanent  head,  or  leader,  and 
subject  to  all  the  vicissitudes  attending  ordinary  nations  ; 
though  the  Almighty  by  no  means  relinquishes  his  exclu- 
sive right  to  their  obedience,  or  his  absolute  authority  over 
them  as  his  peculiar  people. 

It  having  been  revealed  by  the  Almighty  to  the  prophet 
Samuel  that  Saul,  the  son  of  Kish,  of  the  tribe  of  Benja- 
min, should  be  the  king  of  Israel,  the  prophet  hastened 
privately  to  anoint  him ;  soon  after  which  he  was  publicly 
designated  for  that  exalted  station,  in  the  presence  of  the 
whole  nation.  To  give  the  utmost  dignity  and  solemnity 
to  the  selection  and  inauguration  of  the  future  monarch, 


166  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

Samuel  convened  a  general  assembly  of  the  people  at 
Mizpeh,  brought  thither  the  Ark  of  the  Lord,  and  then 
proceeded  to  determine  who  should  be  the  Lord's  anointed, 
by  lot.  The  people  having  separated  themselves  into 
tribes  and  families,  first  ascertained,  by  lot,  from  which 
tribe  the  king  should  be  taken;  when  the  lot  fell  upon  the 
tribe  of  Benjamin.  They  next  cast  lots  to  determine  to 
which  family  he  should  belong ;  when  the  family  of  Matri 
was  designated.  They  then  proceeded,  in  the  same  man- 
ner, to  select  the  individual  from  that  family  whom  the 
Lord  had  appointed  for  their  ruler;  and  the  lot  fell  upon 
Sauh 

Saul  having  already  learned  from  Samuel  that  God  had 
determined  that  he  should  be  king  of  Israel,  intentionally 
absented  himself  from  the  assembly  on  this  important  occa- 
sion ;  but,  as  soon  as  the  lot  was  determined  in  his  favor, 
the  people  anxiously  sought  him  out,  and  brought  him  to 
Samuel,  who,  presenting  him  to  the  assembled  multitude, 
said,  "  Behold  him  whom  the  Lord  hath  chosen  !  There 
is  none  like  him  among  the  people."  And  when  the  peo- 
ple beheld  the  imposing  aspect  and  noble  stature  of  Saul, 
they  immediately  expressed  their  approbation  of  the  choice 
by  exclaiming,  "  God  save  the  king  !  "  Upon  hearing  this 
expression  of  the  people's  approbation  of  what  had  just 
passed,  Samuel  produced  a  record,  which  he  had  previously 
written,  of  all  these  events ;  and,  after  having  rehearsed  it 
in  their  presence,  he  placed  the  book  in  the  Ark  of  the 
Covenant  there  to  remain  as  a  perpetual  evidence  of  the 
truth  of  his  prophecy. 

Saul,  in  1095  A.  C,  being  thus,  with  the  general  appro- 
bation of  the  people,  publicly  recognized  as  king,  immedi- 
ately proceeded  to  Gibeah,  his  native  place,  w^hile  Samuel, 
after  having  dismissed  the  assembly,  returned  to  Ramah. 
The  leaders,  and  the  chief  men  of  the  different  tribes,  soon 


THE     KINGS.  167 

after  repaired  to  Gibeali  to  congratulate  Saul  on  his  eleva- 
tion to  tlie  throne,  and  to  acknowledge  their  allegiance  to 
him,  by  making  him  many  valuable  presents,  in  conformity 
with  a  custom  then  universally  prevalent  amongst  Eastern 
nations.  These  presents  were  received  by  the  king,  and  given 
by  the  people  as  tokens  of  peace  and  friendship,  congratu- 
lation and  joy,  subjection  and  obedience ;  and,  though 
there  were  a  few  individuals  amongst  the  different  tribes, 
who  did  not  approve  of  the  choice  of  Saul  as  king,  yet 
the  number  was  so  comparatively  limited,  as  to  give  the 
monarch  little  uneasiness. 

Saul  had  scarcely  become  firmly  seated  on  the  throne 
bt^ore  the  Gileadites,  who  dwelt  on  the  east  side  of  the 
river  Jordan,  implored  his  assistance  against  Nahash,  king 
of  the  Ammonites.  This  haughty  monarch,  at  the  head 
of  a  powerful  army,  had  invaded  Gilead,  and  laid  siege  to 
Jabesh-gilead,  the  capital  of  the  country.  The  inhabitants 
of  the  city  were  at  length  reduced  to  so  great  extremity, 
that  they  consented,  on  condition  that  Nahash  would  raise 
the  siege,  to  submit  to  any  terms  that  he  might  propose ; 
when,  to  their  utter  amazement,  the  cruel  tyrant  insisted, 
as  a  preliminary  to  any  farther  negotiation,  that  every 
man  among  the  Gileadites  should  submit  to  the  loss  of  his 
right  eye.  With  this  cruel  condition  the  Gileadites  at  once 
resolved  not  to  comply;  and  they,  therefore,  in  order  to 
gain  time  to  invoke  the  aid  of  their  friends,  informed  Na- 
hash that  they  would  reply  to  his  demand  at  the  expiration 
of  seven  days. 

In  the  mean  time  the  Gileadites  dispatched  messengers 
to  king  Saul,  to  inform  him  of  their  critical  situation,  and 
to  implore  immediate  succor.  With  this  application  for 
assistance  Saul  resolved  immediately  to  comply ;  and  he, 
therefore,  issued  a  proclamation,  requiring  the  people  to 
arm  themselves,  and  repair  to  Gibeah  with  the  least  poBsi- 


168  THE     ANCIENT     HEBKEV/S. 

ble  delay.  When  he  came  to  review  his  army,  he  found 
the  number  of  his  troops  to  consist  of  three  hundred  and 
thirty  thousand  men,  thirty  thousand  of  whom  belonged 
to  the  tribe  of  Judah ;  and  with  this  force  he  resolved  to 
march  to  the  relief  of  the  city  on  the  following  day.  The 
messengers  who  had  been  sent  to  Saul  hastened  back  with 
this  joyful  intelligence  to  their  distressed  brethren ;  and 
they,  elated  with  the  idea  of  being  so  soon  delivered  from 
their  relentless  enemies,  sent  them  a  message,  saying, 
"  To-morrow  we  will  come  out  to  you,  and  ye  shall  do 
with  us  all  that  seemeth  good  unto  you." 

Saul  having  set  forth  early  in  the  morning,  with  his 
army  arranged  in  three  divisions,  advanced  so  rapidly  that 
he  reached  the  enemy's  camp  before  the  dawn  of  the  fol- 
lowing day;  and,  falling  upon  them  suddenly  and  unex- 
pectedly, immediately  threw  them  into  the  utmost  confu- 
sion, and  so  thoroughly  routed  them,  that  scarcely  two  of 
the  whole  Ammonite  army  were  left  together.  This  sud- 
den and  unexpected  triumph  over  so  formidable  and  cruel 
a  foe,  greatly  enhanced  the  reputation  of  Saul ;  and  somo 
of  his  more  intimate  associates  seized  this  favorable  oppor- 
tunity to  advise  him  to  punish  all  such  as  had  hitherto 
refused  to  acknowledge  him  as  king.  But  Saul,  so  far 
from  following  their  advice,  very  prudently  replied,  "  There 
shall  not  a  man  be  put  to  death  this  day ;  for,  to-day  the 
Lord  hath  wrought  salvation  in  Israel." 

The  whole  body  of  the  people  of  Israel,  with  the  sanc- 
tion of  Samr.el,  repaired,  immediately  after  this  important 
victory,  to  Gilgal,  "  and  there  they  made  Saul  king  before 
the  Lord  in  Gilgal ;  and  there  they  sacrificed  sacrifices  of 
peace-offerings  before  the  Lord  ;  and  there  Saul  and  all 
the  men  of  Israel  rejoiced  greatly."  This  transaction 
should,  perhaps,  be  regarded  as  the  solemn  public  renewal, 
and    final   establishment  of  the   kingdom   of   Saul ;    and. 


TH*E     KINGS.  169 

Samuel  embraced  the  opportunity  thus  afforded  him,  to 
warn  the  people  and  their  chosen  king,  while  thus  assem- 
bled together,  against  tyranny  and  impiety.  After  having 
reminded  them  of  the  past  faithfulness  of  God  in  raising 
up  for  them  judges  and  deliverers  in  every  emergency,  he 
solemnly  admonished  them  with  regard  to  their  future 
conduct,  saying,  "  If  ye  will  fear  the  Lord,  and  serve  him, 
and  obey  his  voice,  and  not  rebel  against  the  command- 
ments of  the  Lord ;  then  shall  bo^.h  ye,  and  also  the  king 
that  reigneth  over  you,  continue  following  the  Lord  your 
God.  But  if  ye  will  not  obey  the  voice  of  the  Lord,  but 
rebel  against  the  commandment  of  the  Lord,  then  shall 
the  hand  of  the  Lord  be  against  you,  as  it  was  against 
your  fathers." 

From  this  period,  Samuel  relinquished  the  office  andfunc 
tions  of  a  judge  in  Israel,  and  during  the  remainder  of  his 
life  appears  mainly  as  a  prophet ;  and  Saul,  being  now 
fully  established  on  the  throne,  at  once  made  preparation 
for  a  vigorous  administration  of  the  government,  in  all  its 
departments.  With  this  view  he  selected  three  thousand 
Israelites  as  a  standing  army ;  two  thousand  of  whom  he 
retained  under  his  own  immediate  command  at  Michmash, 
and  placed  the  other  thousand  under  the  command  of  his 
son  Jonathan,  at  Gibeah.  A  short  time  after  this,  Jona- 
than, who  was  a  youth  of  undaunted  courage  and  gTcat 
military  prowess,  attacked  and  captured  a  Philistine  garri- 
son at  Geba,  one  of  the  frontier  towns  of  the  country ;  in 
consequence  of  which  the  Philistines  immediately  raised  a 
powerful  army,  and,  marching  against  the  Israelites,  en- 
camped near  Michmash,  firmly  resolved  to  be  revenged  for 
the  taking  of  Geba  upon  the  whole  Israelitish  nation. 

Aware  of  the  movement  of  the  Philistines,  Saul  at  once 
prepared  to  meet  them;    and  he,    accordingly,   issued  a 
proclamation  to  all  Israel,  to  arm  themselves  and  prepare 
8 


170  THE     ANCIENT      SEBRE\\S 

for  the  conflict — appointing  Gilgal  as  the  readezvoiis  of 
the  army.  The  Philistines  were,  however,  a  great  terror 
to  the  Israelites ;  and  forgetting,  on  this  occasion,  their 
signal  triumph  over  them  at  Mizpeh,  a  comparatively  small 
number  of  them  repaired  to  the  standard  of  their  king  at 
Gilgal,  whilst  many  secreted  themselves  in  rocks  and 
caves,  and  others  retired  for  safety  beyond  the  Jordan, 
To  increase  the  distress  and  anxiety  of  Saul  and  the  little 
band  of  faithful  followers  around  him,  the  time  of  sacrifice 
was  at  hand,  and  Samuel  had  not  yet  arrived  to  present 
the  offering  before  the  Lord.  In  this  emergency  Saul^ 
fearing  that  the  enemy  might  fall  upon  his  little  army 
before  the  protection  and  assistance  of  the  Almighty  had 
been  invoked,  resolved  to  offer  the  sacrifice  himself ;  buit 
the  burnt-oflfering  was  scarcely  consumed,  before  the  arrival 
of  Samuel  w^as  announced ;  and  when  the  prophet  heard 
what  Saul  had  done,  he  rebuked  him  with  the  utmost 
severity,  for  his  distrust  and  impatience,  immediately  after 
which  he  left  the  camp. 

Soon  after  Samuel's  departure,  Saul,  accompanied  by 
his  son  Jonathan,  marched  his  forces  to  Gibeah,  and  there 
encamped.  By  desertion  and  other  causes,  his  forces  had 
become  reduced  to  not  many  more  than  six  hundred  men, 
and  these  were  all  destitute  of  both  sword  and  spear — • 
their  arms  being  no  other  than  the  different  implements 
used  in  their  respective  occupations ;  such  as  plough-shares, 
hatchets,  and  pitchforks.  The  two  armies  having  remained 
for  some  time  encamped  at  a  short  distance  from  each 
other,  being  separated  by  nothing  but  a  range  of  craggy 
rocks,  Jonathan,  the  king's  son,  relying  on  divine  assist-, 
ance,  resolved  to  make  one  desperate  effort  to  overcome 
the  enemy.  He,  therefore,  taking  advantage  of  the  dark- 
ness of  the  night,  left  his  own  camp,  and  accompanied  by 
liis  armor-bearer  only,  entered;,  unperceived,  the  camp  of  tho 


THE     KINGS.  171 

Philistines;  and  the  two  heroes,  falling  suddenly  upon 
them,  laid  twenty  of  their  number  dead  at  their  feet.  So 
sudden  and  unexpected  an  attack  filled  the  whole  Philistine 
army  with  consternation,  and  threw  them  into  the  utmost 
confusion ;  and  in  this  state  of  uncertainty,  not  being  able 
to  discriminate  between  friend  and  foe,  they  fell  upon  each 
other,  and  thus  great  numbers  of  them  became  the  instru- 
ments of  their  own  destruction. 

This  extraordinary  exploit  of  Jonathan  and  his  armor- 
bearer,  and  the  consequences  which  followed,  soon  became 
known,  not  only  to  Saul's  army,  but  throughout  all  the 
land  of  Israel ;  and  many  who,  through  fear  of  the  enemy, 
had  hitherto  held  back,  now  quitted  their  retreats,  and  im- 
mediately repaired  to  Saul's  camp.  Encouraged  by  this 
increase  of  his  forces,  Saul  at  once  advanced  against  the 
Philistines,  and  attacked  them  with  such  resolution,  that 
they  were  soon  routed,  and  all  either  put  to  the  sword,  or 
compelled  to  save  themselves  by  flight.  Elated  with  this 
great  and  unexpected  success,  and  resolved  to  follow  up  his 
victory,  and  extirpate,  if  possible,  the  whole  Philistine  nation, 
Saul  now  pressed  forward  in  pursuit  of  them  ;  and  that  no 
time  might  be  lost,  he,  by  proclamation,  incautiously 
enjoined  his  whole  army  neither  to  eat  nor  drink  till  the 
approach  of  night  had  put  an  end  to  the  slaughter ;  saying, 
"  Cursed  be  the  man  that  eateth  any  food  until  evening,  that 
T  may  be  avenged  on  my  enemies." 

The  eagerness  of  Saul,  however,  to  destroy  the  Philis- 
tines defeated  itself;  for,  in  the  long  and  toilsome  march, 
the  people  became  faint  and  weary :  and  Jonathan,  who 
had  not  heard  the  rash  malediction  of  his  father,  "  dipped 
his  rod  into  the  honey  and  ate,"  and  thus  strengthened,  he 
alone  was  able  to  continue  the  pursuit.  The  Israelites 
having  during  the  day  slain  many  thousands  o''  the  Philis- 
tines, returned  at  night  to  the  enemy's  camp,  and  finding 


172  THE     ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

amongst  the  spoil  numerous  sheep,  they,  in  their  famished 
state,  immediately  slew  some  of  them,  and  eat  them  in 
their  blood.  This  act  being  a  violation  of  the  Mosaic  law, 
was  complained  of  to  the  king  by  the  priests ;  and  Saul, 
in  order  to  expiate  the  guilt  of  the  people,  caused  a  large 
stone  to  be  placed  in  the  centre  of  the  camp,  and  said, 
"  Bring  me  hither  every  man  his  ox  and  every  man  his 
sheep,  and  slay  them  here,  and  eat  and  sin  not  against  the 
Lord  in  eating  with  the  blood.  And  Saul  built  an  altar 
unto  the  Lord :  the  same  was  the  first  altar  that  he  built 
unto  the  Lord." 

Imagining  that  the  guilt  of  the  people  was  now  atoned 
for,  Saul  resolved  immediately  to  pursue  those  Philistines 
who  had  escaped  the  slaughter  of  the  previous  day ;  but 
Ahiah,  the  high-priest,  advised  him  first  to  consult  the 
Almighty,  and  ascertain  whether  this  course  would  be  in 
accordance  with  the  Divine  will.  "  And  Saul  asked  coun- 
sel of  God,  shall  I  go  down  after  the  Philistines  ?  Wilt 
thou  deliver  them  into  the  hand  of  Israel?  But  he  an- 
swered him  not  that  day."  Conscious,  from  the  silence  of 
the  Almighty,  that  unatoned  sin  somewhere  existed  among 
them,  Saul  at  once  determined  to  ascertain  where  and  what 
it  was ;  and  he  therefore  issued  orders,  saying,  "  Draw  ye 
near  hither  all  ye  chief  of  the  people ;  and  know  and  see 
wherein  this  sin  hath  been  this  day.  For  as  the  Lord 
liveth,  which  saveth  Israel,  though  it  be  in  Jonathan  my 
son,  he  shall  surely  die." 

To  ascertain  where  the  sin  lay  which  had  brought  down 
the  Divine  displeasure  upon  them,  Saul  caused  the  people 
to  be  assembled  together;  and,  placing  himself  and  Jona- 
than opposite  to  them,  cast  lots  to  determine  to  which 
party  the  guilt  belonged,  when  the  lot  fell  upon  the  king 
and  his  son.  On  another  trial  between  Saul  and  Jonathan 
alone,  Jonathan  was  taken  ;    upon  which  the  king,  with 


THE     KINGS.  173 

great  apparent  anxiety,  asked  liim  what  he  had  done. 
"  And  Jonathan  told  him,  and  said,  I  did  but  taste  a  little 
honey  with  the  end  of  the  rod  that  was  in  my  hand,  and, 
lo,  I  must  die.  And  Saul  answered,  God  do  so,  and  more 
also:  for  thou  shalt  surely  die,  Jonathan."  The  people, 
however,  who  well  understood  the  relative  character  of  the 
king  and  his  son,  at  once  resolved  that  this  cruel  sentence 
should  not  be  put  into  execution ;  and  they,  therefore, 
"  rescued  Jonathan  that  he  died  not." 

In  the  whole  of  this  memorable  transaction,  Saul,  for 
the  first  time,  gave  indications  of  that  cruel,  vindictive,  and 
tyrannical  disposition,  which  afterwards  became  the  most 
prominent  feature  of  his  character.  God,  however,  was 
still  with  him ;  and,  though  he  did  not  permit  him  farther 
to  pursue  the  Philistines,  yet  he  signally  favored  him  in 
many  other  enterprises.  His  kingdom  was  now  firmly  estab- 
lished, and  he  soon  extended  his  conquests  on  every  side. 
Beyond  the  river  Jordan,  and  south  and  east  of  the  Dead 
Sea,  his  victorious  arms  prevailed  over  Moab,  Ammon,  and 
Edom ;  and  to  the  northward,  he  successfully  contended 
with  the  kings  of  Zobah.  Indeed,  according  to  the  sacred 
narrative,  "  whithersoever  he  turned  himself,  he  vexed  his 
foes." 

The  wonderful  success  which  had  thus  far  attended  the 
arms  of  Saul  on  every  side,  left  the  Israelites,  for  a  brief 
period,  in  the  full  enjoyment  of  peace  and  prosperity;  and 
while  the  whole  nation  were  flushed  with  the  recent  tri- 
umphs of  their  king,  Saul  received  orders  from  the 
Almighty,  by  the  mouth  of  the  prophet  Samuel,  to  ^'go 
and  smite  Amalek,  and  utterly  destroy  all  that  they  have, 
and  spare  them  not;  but  slay  both  men  and  women."  To 
carry  this  Divine  command  into  execution,  Saul  immedi- 
ately assembled  an  army  at  Telaim,  consisting  of  two 
hundred  and  ten  thousand  men,  ten  thousand  of  whom 


174  THE     ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

belonged  to  the  tribe  of  Judali.  With  this  immense  force 
he  entered  the  country  of  the  Amalekites ;  but  before  he 
proceeded  to  execute  his  dread  commission,  he  warned  the 
Kenites — the  descendants  of  Jethro,  the  father-in-law  cf 
Moses — to  depart  from  amongst  the  Amalekites,  lest  they 
should  perish  witli  them.  He  then  fell  upon  the  enemy 
who  dwelt  in  the  open  country,  all  of  whom  he  soon  over- 
came and  put  to  the  sword ;  after  which  he  invested  the 
cities  and  towns,  whose  inhabitants  soon  shared  a  similar 
fate.  "And  Saul  smote  the  Amalekites  from  Havilah, 
imtil  thou  comest  to  Shur,  that  is  over  against  Egypt." 

But,  notwithstanding  this  general  destruction  of  the 
Amalekites,  Saul  only  partially  fulfilled  the  Divine  com- 
mand; for  he,  through  avarice,  spared  the  life  of  Agag, 
their  king,  and  also  carried  oft"  much  booty,  and  many 
sheep  and  oxen ;  whereas,  the  Almighty,  in  consequence 
of  the  early,  inveterate,  and  continuous  opposition  of  the 
Amalekites  to  the  Israelites,  had  commanded  him  so 
utterly  to  extirpate  them,  as  not  to  allow  a  living  thing 
to  escape.  This  direct  disregard  of  the  Divine  command, 
was  so  offensive  to  the  Almighty,  that  he  declared  in  a 
revelation  to  Samuel,  "  It  repenteth  me  that  I  have  set  up 
Saul  to  be  king ;  for  he  is  turned  back  from  following  me, 
and  hath  not  performed  my  commandments."  Samuel 
soon  after  repaired  to  the  camp,  and  as  Saul  beheld  the 
aged  prophet  approaching,  he  advanced  with  joy  to  meet 
him ;  and,  as  though  unconscious  of  his  guilt,  he  exclaimed, 
"  Blessed  be  thou  of  the  Lord ;  I  have  performed  the  com- 
mandment of  the  Lord."  Samuel  well  knew,  however, 
that  this  declaration  was  false  ;  and  he,  accordingly,  imme- 
diately inquired,  "What  meaneth,  then,  this  bleating  of 
the  sheep  in  mine  ears?"  to  which  Saul  replied,  "The 
people  spared  the  best  of  the  sheep,  and  of  the  oxen,  to 
sacrifice  unto  the  Jiord  thy  God."     When  Samuel  heard 


THE     KINGS.  175 

this  prevarication,  lie  uttered  that  solemn  and  impressive 
trufh,  so  often  heard,  and  yet  so  seldom  duly  heeded: 
"  Hath  the  Lord  as  great  delight  in  burnt-offerings,  and 
sacrifices,  as  in  obeying  the  voice  of  the  Lord  ?  Behold, 
to  obey  is  better  than  sacrifice,  and  to  hearken,  than  the 
fat  of  rams" — which  was  immediately  followed  by  the 
startling  declaration,  "  Because  thou  hast  rejected  the 
word  of  the  Lord,  he  hath  also  rejected  thee  from  being 
king." 

Appalled  by  this  declaration  from  the  Almighty,  Saul 
now  confessed  his  sin,  and,  in  hopes  of  being  forgiven, 
besought  Samuel  to  remain  with  him  while  the  sacrifice 
for  Avhich  he  had  made  preparations  should  be  offered. 
With  this  earnest  request,  Samuel,  with  much  apparent 
reluctance,  at  length  complied ;  but  immediately  after  the 
sacrifice  was  ended,  he  sent  for  Agag,  the  Amalekite  king, 
and  slew  him  with  his  own  hands,  saying,  ''  As  thy  sword 
hath  made  women  childless,  so  shall  thy  mother  be  child- 
less among  women."  The  venerable  prophet  now,  with 
deep  grief,  left  Gilgal  and  returned  to  Ramah ;  "  and 
Sajnuel  came  no  more  to  see  Saul  until  the  day  of  his 
death:  nevertheless,  Samuel  mourned  for  Saul;  and  the 
Lord  repented  that  he  had  made  Saul  king  over  Israel." 

Saul,  being  thus  publicly  denounced  by  the  prophet,  and 
rejected  by  the  Almighty,  the  preservation  of  the  kingdom 
required  the  immediate  designation  of  a  successor;  and, 
while  Samuel  was  still  secretly  mourning  over  the  great 
calamity  which  had  overtaken  Saul,  the  Lord  appeared 
unto  him  and  said,  "  How  long  wilt  thou  mourn  for  Saul, 
seeing  I  have  rejected  him  from  reigning  over  Israel  ? 
Fill  thine  horn  with  oil  and  go :  I  will  send  thee  to  Jesse, 
the  Bethlehemite  ;  for  I  have  provided  me  a  king  among 
his  sons."  In  obedience  to  the  Divine. command,  Samuel, 
without  hesitation,  made  the  necessary  preparations,  and 


176  THE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

repaired  to  Bethlehem ;  and  having  offered  a  sacrifice,  at 
which  Jesse  and  his  family  were  present,  he  next  prepared 
to  execute  the  great  purpose  of  his  mission.  With  this 
view  he  first  sanctified  Jesse  and  his  sons,  and  then  caused 
the  latter  to  pass  in  succession  before  him,  beginning  with 
Eiiab,  the  eldest.  Assured,  however,  that  neither  of  these 
was  to  be  the  future  sovereign  of  Israel,  Samuel  anxiously 
inquired  of  Jesse  whether  he  had  any  other  children ;  and 
when  Jesse  informed  him  that  he  had  one  other  son,  a  lad, 
who  was  then  in  the  field  watching  the  sheep,  he  desired 
him  to  send  and  fetch  him.  David  was  at  this  time  about 
fifteen  years  of  age,  and,  being  unusually  prepossessing  in 
his  appearance,  the  prophet  no  sooner  beheld  him  than, 
by  a  secret  impulse,  he  became  satisfied  that  he  was  the 
person  to  be  anointed.  This  impulse  was  immediately 
followed  by  the  voice  of  the  Lord,  which  said,  "  Arise, 
anoint  him,  for  this  is  he.  Then  Samuel  took  the  horn 
of  oil,  and  anointed  him  in  the  midst  of  his  brethren  : 
and  the  spirit  df  the  Lord  came  upon  David  from  that 
day  forward." 


SECTION     II. 


Saul  :  David's  first  Introduction  to  the  Kin^ — Triumph  over  Goliath, 
and  Defeat  of  the  Philistines — Obtains  Saul's  Daughter  in  Mar- 
riage—The Friendship  of  David  and  Jonathan— Saul's  Jealousy, 
and  Determination  to  put  David  to  Death — His  Life  preserved  by 
Jonathan — Retires  to  a  Cave  near  AduUam — His  Visit  to  Abimelech. 
the  High-priest— Takes  the  City  of  Keilah— Death  of  Samuel. 

As  no  immediate  consequences  followed  the  anointing  ol 
David  by  the  prophet  Samuel,  and  as  he,  for  some  years  after, 
remained  devotedly  loyal  to  Saul,  it  is  not  probable  that 
either  his  family  or-  himself  even,  were,  at  that  time,  aware 
of  the  design  of  the  sacred  and  important  ceremony  which 


THE     KINGS.  177 

they  had  just  witnessed.  "  The  Spirit  of  the  Lord,"  how- 
ever, which  then  descended  upon  him,  continued  to  dwell 
with  him ;  and,  by  its  divine  operations  upon  both  his  un- 
derstanding and  his  heart,  gradually  fitted  him  eminently 
to  fill  the  exalted  and  responsible  station  to  which  the 
Almighty  thus  indicated  his  intention  to  call  him.  Without 
any  external  change,  therefore,  in  his  circumstances,  he 
still  continued  to  tend  his  father's  flocks — devoting  his 
leisure  hours  to  the  delightful  studies  of  music  and  poetry, 
in  both  of  which  he  eventually  became  preeminently  ex- 
cellent. 

While  David  was  thus  occupied,  and  daily  increasing  in 
favor  with  the  Almighty,  "  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  departed 
from  Saul,"  and  left  him  in  the  most  deplorable  condition. 
Samuel,  his  former  friend,  no  longer  held  any  intercourse 
with  him;  and,  thus  left  to  himself,  the  recollection  of  the 
circumstances  which  had  separated  the  aged  prophet  from 
him,  at  length  so  affected  his  mind  as  to  produce  a  settled 
melancholy,  only  occasionally  disturbed,  and  then  by  par- 
oxysms of  the  wildest  frenzy.  To  relieve  his  mind  from 
this  deplorable  state,  his  courtiers  had  recourse  to  music ; 
and  as  David's  skill  upon  the  harp  had  now  become  known 
throughout  all  the  land,  he  was  recommended  as  a  suitable 
person  to  be  introduced  into  the  king's  presence  for  this 
purpose.  David  was,  accordingly,  brought  to  court :  ''And 
it  came  to  pass  when  the  evil  spirit  from  God  was  upon 
Saul,  that  David  took  a  harp  and  played  wdth  his  hand ;  so 
Saul  was  refreshed,  and  was  well,  and  the  evil  spirit 
departed  from  him."  Thus  commenced  the  intercourse 
between  David  and  Saul ;  and  with  the  beauty  and  skill 
of  the  youthful  musician  the  king  was  so  well  pleased, 
that  he  appomted  him  one  of  his  armor-bearers. 

The  Philistines  had  now  recovered  from  the  effects  of 
their  late  defeat,   and  being   still   very  numerous,   they 
8* 


178  THE     ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

resolved  once  more  to  array  themselves  against  the  Israel- 
ites. They,  therefore,  assembled  all  their  forces,  and  en- 
camped on  a  range  of  high  land,  on  one  side  of  the  valley 
of  Elah  ;  and  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  same  valley  Saul 
immediately  drew  up  his  forces  to  oppose  them.  While 
the  two  armies  were  thus  situated,  and  in  full  view  of  each 
other,  the  Philistine  champion,  Goliath — a  native  of  Gath, 
of  gigantic  stature — advanced  towards  the  Israelitish  camp, 
and  in  the  most  haughty  and  imperious  terms  challenged 
to  single  combat  any  hero  of  Israel ;  saying :  "  Why  are 
ye  come  out  to  set  your  battle  in  array  ?  Am  not  I  a 
Philistine,  and  ye  servants  of  Saul  ?  Choose  you  a  man 
for  you,  and  let  him  come  down  to  me.  If  he  be  able  to 
fight  with  me,  and  to  kill  me,  then  wiU  we  be  your  serv- 
ants ;  but  if  I  prevail  against  him,  and  kill  him,  then  shall 
ye  be  our  servants,  and  serve  us.  I  defy  the  armies  of 
Israel  this  day ;  give  me  a  man,  that  we  may  fight  to- 
gether." 

This  haughty  challenge  of  Goliath  was  reiterated  on 
forty  successive  days,  and  still  no  champion  of  Israel  ap- 
peared to  accept  it.  Saul  was,  therefore,  at  length  reduced 
to  so  great  extremity  that  he  even  oflfered  his  eldest 
daughter  in  marriage  to  the  one  who  should  successfully 
encounter  the  gigantic  Philistine.  Just  at  this  period, 
David,  who  was  not  yet  old  enough  to  serve  in  the  army 
as  a  regular  soldier,  arrived  at  the  camp  with  a  message 
from  his  father  to  three  of  his  brothers,  who  were  in  the 
king's  service ;  and  observing  the  general  dread  which  the 
presence  of  the  mighty  Philistine  inspired,  indignantly 
exclaimed,  "Who  is  this  uncircumcised  Philistine,  that 
he  should  defy  the  armies  of  the  living  God?"  He  re- 
fiolved,  therefore,  notwithstanding  the  opposition  of  his 
elder  brother,  Eliab,  to  accept  Goliath's  challenge  himself. 

The  resolution  of  David  soon  became  known  throughout 


THE     KINGS.  179 

the  camp,  and  it  being  communicated  to  the  king,  Saul 
ordered  him  into  his  presence ;  and  when  he  beheld  his 
youthful  appearance,  he  said  to  him,  "  Thou  art  not 
able  to  go  against  this  Philistine,  to  fight  with  him,  for 
thou  art  but  a  youth,  and  he  a  man  of  war  from  his 
youth."  But  David,  conscious  that  the  source  of  his 
strength  ^^as  in  the  Almighty,  replied,  "  Let  no  man's 
heart  fail  because  of  him ;  thy  servant  will  go  and  fight 
.with  this  Philistine;"  and  then,  clearly  to  exhibit  to 
the  king  the  ground  of  his  confidence,  he  related  the  fol- 
lowing i/jcident,  which  occurred  while  he  was  tending  his 
father's  flocks :  "  There  came  a  lion  and  a  bear,  and  took 
a  lamb  of  the  flock,  and  I  went  out  after  them,  and  slew 
them.  Thy  servant  slew  both  the  lion  and  the  bear ;  and 
this  uncircumcised  Philistine  shall  be  as  one  of  them,  see- 
ing he  hath  defied  the  armies  of  the  living  God.  The 
Lord  that  delivered  me  from  their  power,  will  deliver  me 
out  of  the  hand  of  this  Philistine."  By  the  relation  of 
this  circumstance,  and  by  the  unusual  intrepidity  which 
David  evinced,  Saul  was  satisfied  that  his  resolutiorw  to 
meet  Goliatli  arose,  not  from  presumptuous  daring,  but 
from  Divine  inspiration ;  and  he  therefore  said  to  him, 
"  Goj  and  the  Lord  be  with  thee.'* 

In  order,  however,  that  David  might  not  ent^r  upon  this 
momentous  contest  without  being  suitably  armed,  Saul 
arrayed  him  in  his  own  armor ;  but  David  being  unused  to 
such  weapons,  laid  them  aside,  and  took  his  shepherd's 
staff",  a  sling,  and  five  smooth  stones,  and  with  no  oth^er 
preparation  for  the  conflict,  advanced  to  meet  his  powerful 
antagonist.  When  Goliath  beheld  the  youthful  hero,  he, 
in  the  most  contemptuous  manner,  exclaimed,  "  Am  I  a 
dog,  that  thou  comest  to  me  with  staves  ?"  and  then  curs- 
ing David  by  the  Philistine's  gods,  he  added,  "  Come  to 
me,  and  I  will  give  thy  flesh  unto  the  fowls  of  the  air,  and 


180  THE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

to  the  beasts  of  the  field."  To  this  haughty  bravado,  Da- 
vid, in  the  calm  courage  which  reliance  on  the  Almighty 
always  inspires,  replied  :  "  Thou  comest  to  me  with  a  sword, 
and  with  a  spear,  and  with  a  shield ;  but  I  come  to  thee 
in  the  name  of  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  the  God  of  the  armies 
of  Israel,  whom  thou  hast  defied.  This  day  will  the  Lord 
deliver  thee  into  mine  hand,  and  I  will  smite  thee,  and 
take  thine  head  from  thee,  and  I  will  give  the  carcases  of 
the  host  of  the  Philistine  this  day  unto  the  fowls  of  th« 
air,  and  to  the  wild  beasts  of  the  earth,  that  all  the  earth 
may  know  that  there  is  a  God  in  Israel.  And  all  this 
assembly  shall  know  that  the  Lord  saveth  not  with  the 
sword  and  the  spear ;  for  the  battle  is  the  Lord's,  and  he 
will  give  you  into  our  hands." 

The  battle  between  the  two  heroes  was  much  more 
brief  than  had  been  the  preliminaries  to  it.  As  they  ap- 
proached each  other,  David  placed  one  of  the  small  stones, 
which  he  had  taken  from  the  brook,  into  his  sling,  and 
threw  it  at  Goliath  with  such  precision  and  force,  that  it 
struck  him  upon  the  forehead,  penetrating  his  skull,  and 
prostrating  him  to  the  earth.  David's  triumph  being  by 
this  one  blow  complete,  he  approached  his  antagonist,  and 
with  the  Philistine's  own  sword  cutting  off  his  head,  he 
carried  it  to  the  camp  of  Israel.  The  fall  of  Goliath  was 
no  sooner  beheld  by  his  countrymen,  than  consternation 
spread  throughout  their  whole  army ;  and  the  Philistines 
flying  for  safety  into  their  own  country,  were  pursued  by 
the  Israelites,  as  far  as  Gath  and  Ekron,  and  great  num- 
bers of  them  were  put  to  the  sword.  David  was  now 
brought  into  the  presence  of  Saul,  bearing  with  him  the 
Philistine  champion's  head;  and  the  king  having  first 
expressed  his  admiration  of  the  young  hero's  valor  and 
triumph,  next  asked  him  whose  son  he  was:  when  David  re- 
plied, "  I  am  the  son  of  thy  servant  Jesse,  the  Bethlemite." 


THE     KINGS.  181 

The  death  of  Goliath  by  the  hand  of  David,  naturally 
spread  the  fame  of  the  latter  throughout  all  Israel,  and  the 
action  was  everywhere  loudly  applauded ;  but  no  one  ex- 
pressed his  admiration  of  the  event  with  more  hearty 
sincerity  than  Jonathan,  the  eldest  son  of  Saul.  He  was 
himself  a  prince  of  distinguished  bravery,  and  was,  there- 
fore, well  qualified  properly  to  estimate  David's  intrepid 
conduct  in  this  conflict ;  and  he,  therefore,  paid  him  the 
compliment  to  present  him  his  own  bow  and  sword,  and 
became  thenceforth,  till  death,  his  most  devoted  friend. 
But  while  David  was  thus  eliciting  the  friendship  and 
afiection  of  even  royalty  itself,  an  incident  occurred, 
•which  immediately  changed  the  whole  current  of  Saul's 
feelings  towards  him,  and  made  the  king,  from  that  time 
forth,  his  bitterest  enemy.  Among  those  who  had  been 
appointed  to  celebrate  the  recent  victory,  was  a  chorus  of 
women,  the  burthen  of  whose  song  was,  "  Saul  has  slain 
his  thousands,  and  David  his  ten  thousands." 

The  irritation  which  David's  popularity,  thus  publicly 
expressed,  produced  upon  the  mind  of  Saul,  hastened  on 
one  of  the  king's  periodic  fits  of  melancholy;  and  to 
soothe  his  agitated  and  desponding  mind,  the  sweet  strains 
of  David's  harp  were  again  called  into  requisition.  While 
the  youthful  bard,  and  now  hero  also,  unconscious  of 
danger,  was  thus  exerting  his  musical  skill  in  the  presence 
of  his  royal  master,  the  frantic  king,  with  deadly  purpose, 
hurled  his  javelin  at  him  with  such  force,  that  his  preser- 
vation from  death  can  only  be  attributed  to  the  immediate 
interposition  of  Divine  Providence.  Saul,  however,  though 
foiled  in  this  open  attempt  upon  the  life  of  David,  resolved 
to  compass  his  malignant  purpose  in  some  other  way; 
and  he,  therefore,  removed  him  from  the  office  of  armor 
bearer,  and  placed  him  in  command  of  a  troop  of  a 
thousand  men,   that  he  might  employ  him   in  the  most 


182  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

hazardous  enterprises,  and  thus  expose  him  to  certain 
death.  God,  however,  was  with  him,  and  he,  therefore, 
everywhere  proved  successful. 

David  had  now  attained  the  full  development  of  manhood, 
and  was  as  much  distinguished  for  the  beauty  and  grace 
of  his  person  as  he  was  for  his  bravery  and  skill  as  a  warrior. 
Being  much  at  court,  he  naturally  attracted  the  attention  of 
the  king's  household;  and  Saul's  second  daughter,  Michal, 
soon  became  violently  in  love  with  him.  The  state  of  his 
daughter's  affections  being  made  known  to  Saul,  he,  so  far 
from  opposing  her,  embraced  every  opportunity  to  foster 
and  inflame  her  passion  for  the  young  hero,  expecting  that, 
by  bringing  David  into  closer  alliance  with  himself,  the 
opportunities  for  sacrificing  his  life  would  be  increased. 
Knowing  David's  intrepidity  and  daring  courage,  the  king, 
therefore,  proposed  to  bestow  Michal's  hand  upon  whom- 
soever would  kill  an  hundred  Philistines,  and  bring  him  the 
evidence  of  their  death.  David  having,  in  the  mean  time, 
reciprocated  the  aftection  of  Michal,  readily  acceded  to 
Saul's  proposal,  and,  arming  a  suitable  number  of  his  com- 
panions, they  immediately  set  out  in  search  of  the  enemy, 
whom,  having  soon  found,  they  so  suddenly  attacked  them, 
that  the  Philistines,  not  being  prepared  to  defend  them- 
selves, fled  before  the  intrepid  little  band,  leaving  over  two 
hundred  of  their  number  in  David's  hands.  The  prisoners 
thus  taken  Mere  immediately  put  to  the  sword,  and  the 
evidence  of  their  death  which  Saul  required  being  readily 
obtained,  the  royal  pledge  was  at  once  redeemed,  and 
David  became  the  king's  son-in-law. 

The  success  of  David,  however,  seemed  only  to  increase 
Saul's  inveterate  hatred  against  him;  and  he  now,  therefore, 
no  longer  concealed  his  determination  to  take  his  life. 
But,  fortunately,  David  had  secured  the  most  devoted  and 
eelf-sacrificing  friendship   of  Jonathan,    Saul's   son;  and. 


THE     KINGS.  188 

througli  his  watchfulness,  the  malicious  designs  of  the  king 
M-ere  frequently  thwarted.  The  conduct  of  Saul  towards 
David  from  this  period  forward,  can  only  be  accounted 
for,  by  assuming  that  he  now  clearly  saw  in  him  his  own 
successor  on  the  throne ;  and  that  the  mental  frenzy 
which  this  perception  produced,  led  him  madly  to  resolve 
to  frustrate  the  purpose  of  even  the  Almighty.  He,  there- 
fore, openly  directed  his  son  Jonathan  to  take  some  favor- 
ite servants  with  him,  seek  out  David,  and  put  him  to 
death.  From  so  dreadful  an  act,  Jonathan,  however, 
drew  back  with  horror;  and  having  first  warned  David 
of  his  danger,  he  next  entered  into  the  presence  of  the 
king,  and  by  earnestly  setting  forth  the  great  services 
of  David,  and  the  blamelessness  of  his  life,  he  so  far  awa- 
kened his  sense  of  justice,  that  "Saul  hearkened  to  the 
voice  of  Jonathan,  and  sware,  as  the  Lord  livetli,  he 
(David)  shall  not  be  slain." 

Having  obtained  this  solemn  oath  from  his  father, 
Jonathan  regarded  it  as  a  guarantee  of  David's  safety  and 
protection;  and  he,  therefore,  inLrnediately  hastened  to  his 
friend  with  the  glad  tidings,  and  brought  him  back  to 
court.  Saul,  however,  had  no  intention  of  sparing  David's 
life  ;  but,  as  the  Philistines  had  again  invaded  the  country, 
he  needed  his  immediate  services ;  and  he,  therefore,  dis- 
sembled his  real  feelings,  and  apparently  restored  him  to 
his  favor.  Commissioned  by  the  king  to  repel  the  enemy, 
David  marched  forth  at  the  head  of  his  troops,  and,  having 
been  eminently  successful  in  every  action,  he  returned,  flushed 
with  his  victory,  to  court; honored  throughout  his  march 
homeward,  by  the  acclamations  of  the  people,  and  expecting 
the  welcome  plaudits  of  the  king.  His  triumph,  however, 
over  the  Philistines  only  served  to  rouse  Saul's  hatred 
afresh,  and  to  bring  on  another  fit  of  his  melancholy  frenzy ; 
and  while  David  was  once  more  endeavoring  with  his  harp 


184  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

to  beguile  and  soothe  the  king's  agitated  mind,  he  thrust  his 
javelin  at  him  with  such  violence,  that,  missing  its  aim,  it 
penetrated  far  into  the  adjacent  wall. 

David,  from  this  period,  quit  the  court  and  service  of 
Saul,  never  again  to  return  to  either.  He  first  repaired  to 
his  own  house ;  but,  being  pursued  thither  by  the  servants 
of  the  king,  he  retired  for  safety  to  Naioth,  where  Samuel  pre- 
sided over  a  college  of  youthful  prophets,  and  there  remained 
for  some  time  in  comparative  safety.  Saul,  however,  having 
at  length  learned  where  David  was,  sent  a  body  of  men  to 
Naioth  with  directions  to  seize  him,  and  bring  him  imme- 
diately to  the  palace  ;  but  David,  being  advised  of  their 
approach,  secretly  left  Naioth,  and  repaired  to  the  dwell- 
ing  of  Jonathan,  where  the  solemn  league  of  friendship, 
into  which  they  had  formerly  entered,  was  renewed.  At  the 
close  of  their  interview,  David  again  reminded  Jonathan 
of  his  constant  exposure  to  death  from  the  hand  of  the 
king;  but  Jonathan,  in  order  to  allay  his  fears,  assured 
him  that  his  father  was  accustomed  to  take  no  important 
step  without  first  consulting  him  ;  and  as  he  had  not  even 
intimated  a  design  on  his  life,  his  fears  must  necessarily 
be  groundless.  To  this  remark  David  replied,  "  Thy 
father  knoweth  that  I  have  found  grace  in  thine  eyes ;  and 
he  saith.  Let  not  Jonathan  know  this,  lest  he  be  grieved ; 
but  truly  as  the  Lord  liveth,  and  as  thy  soul  liveth,  there 
is  but  a  step  between  me  and  death."  Greatly  affected  by 
this  argument,  and  now  satisfied  that  David's  fears  were 
not  groundless,  Jonathan,  in  order  to  aff'ord  him  all  the 
relief  in  his  power,  said  to  him  in  reply,  "  Whatsoever  thy 
soul  desireth,  I  will  even  do  it  for  thee." 

The  day  following  this  important  interview  between 
David  and  Jonathan,  w^as  the  time  of  the  beginning  of  the 
feast  of  the  new  moon ;  and  as  David,  as  a  member  of  the 
royal  family,  was  accustomed,  on  such  occasions,  to  sit  at 


THE    KINGS.  185 

meat  at  the  king's  table,  he  chose  this  opportunity  to  ascer- 
tain what  Saul's  real  intentions  with  regard  to  him  were. 
With  this  view,  he  determined  to  absent  himself  from  the 
feast ;  and  he,  accordingly,  arranged  with  Jonathan  that, 
should  the  king  observe  his  absence,  he  should  inform  him 
that,  by  his  permission,  he  had  gone  to  Bethlehem  to  keep  the 
feast  with  his  own  kinsmen.  On  the  first  day  of  the  feast, 
Saul  observed  that  David's  seat  was  vacant;  but  as  ht 
supposed  that  some  ceremonial  uncleanness  had  prevented 
him  from  being  present,  he  did  not  seem  to  notice  it. 
When,  however,  he  beheld  the  same  seat  vacant  on  the 
second  day  of  the  feast,  he  furiously  demanded  of  Jona- 
than, "  Wherefore  cometh  not  the  son  of  Jesse  to  meat, 
neither  yesterday  nor  to-day  f '  and  when  Jonathan  re- 
plied, that  David  had,  with  his  permission,  gone  to  Beth- 
lehem to  sacrifice  there  with  his  own  family,  Saul's  anger 
knew  no  bounds :  and  after  upbraiding  Jonathan  in  the 
harshest  and  most  severe  terms,  for  his  friendship  for 
David,  he,  in  a  perfect  frenzy,  hurled  his  javelin  at 
David's  empty  seat.  "  So  Jonathan  arose  from  the  table 
in  fierce  anger :  for  he  was  grieved  for  David,  because  his 
father  had  done  him  shame." 

Having  thus  ascertained,  beyond  a  doubt,  that  Saul  had 
resolved  upon  the  death  of  David,  Jonathan,  on  the  morn- 
ing of  the  third  day  of  the  feast,  repaired  to  the  retreat  of 
his  friend,  and  informed  him  of  all  that  he  had  witnessed. 
They  then  solemnly  renewed  their  protestations  of  friend- 
ship to  each  other ;  immediately  after  which,  David,  col- 
lecting together  a  few  of  his  most  devoted  followers, 
commenced  those  tedious  and  distressing  wanderings, 
which  continued  during  the  remainder  of  Saul's  life,  and 
during  the  greater  part  of  which  David  was  in  imminent 
peril  of  his  life.  The  shield  of  the  Almighty  w^as,  however, 
over  him;  and  as  great  were  the  purposes  of  God  with  regard 


186  THE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

to  him,  his  protection  was  sure.  He  first  went  to  the  city 
of  Nob,  at  that  time  the  abode  of  the  Tabernacle  ;  and  hav- 
ing obtained  from  Abimelech,  the  high-priest,  the  sword  of 
GoHath,  and  the  necessary  provisions  for  prosecuting  his 
journey,  he  advanced  into  the  country  of  the  Philistines 
as  far  as  the  city  of  Gath,  of  which  Achish  was  then  king. 
Here,  however,  he  was  soon  recognized,  and  reported  to 
the  king  as  the  conqueror  of  Goliath,  and  the  great  enemy 
of  the  Philistine  race ;  but  by  feigning  madness,  he  effected 
his  escape,  and  retired  to  a  cave  near  Adullam — a  city  of 
considerable  importance,  belonging  to  the  mountainous 
regions  of  Judah.  While  in  this  retreat,  David's  follow- 
ers increased  so  considerably,  that  he  soon  found  himself 
at  the  head  of  four  hundred  well-armed  men;  and  with 
this  force  he,  at  the  instigation  of  the  prophet  Gad,  who 
had  now  joined  him,  descended  to  the  plains  below,  and 
occupied  a  position  in  the  forest  of  Hareth.  Having  thus 
secured  his  own  comparative  safety,  David's  thoughts  were 
now  turned  to  the  situation  of  his  aged  and  helpless  pa- 
rents ;  and  lest  the  inveterate  hatred  of  Saul  should  extend 
even  to  them,  he  solicited  and  obtained  for  them  the  pro- 
tection of  the  king  of  Moab. 

Saul  being  at  length  informed  of  the  situation  of 
David,  and  of  the  number  of  his  followers,  became 
greatly  alarmed,  and  he,  accordingly,  repaired  to  Gibeah, 
and  there  assembled  the  leaders  of  the  tribe  of  Ben- 
jamin, and  appealed  to  them  in  the  most  pitiful  terms, 
Baying,  "  Hear  now,  ye  Benjamites,  will  the  son  of 
Jesse  give  every  one  of  you  fields  and  vineyards,  and 
make  you  all  captains  of  thousands,  and  captains  of  hun- 
dreds :  that  all  of  you  have  conspired  against  me,  and 
there  is  none  that  sheweth  me  that  my  son  hath  made  a 
league  with  the  son  of  Jesse,  and  there  is  none  of  you  that 
is  sorry  for  me,  or  sheweth   unto  me  that  my  son  hath 


THE     KINGS.  187 

stirred  up  my  servant  against  me  to  lie  in  wait,  as  at  thia 
day."  Saul  had  no  sooner  finished  this  address,  than 
Doeg,  his  herdsman,  informed  him  of  David's  visit  to 
Abimelech,  the  high-priest,  of  his  reception,  and  of  the  aid 
he  had  received;  in  consequence  of  which,  Saul  imme- 
diately sent  for  "Abimelech,  and  all  the  other  priests  that 
officiated  in  the  Tabernacle  at  Nob,  and  caused  them  to 
be  indiscriminately  put  to  death.  Nor  did  this  cruel  act 
satiate  his  bloody  resentment ;  for,  lest  his  anger  should  be 
suffered  to  cool,  he  at  once  sent  oft"  a  body  of  his  troops  to 
the  city  of  Nob,  with  strict  orders  to  put  every  man,  wo- 
man, and  child  to  death,  and  to  destroy  all  their  cattle, 
and  every  other  living  creature  they  should  find  in  the 
place.  Saul,  by  this  indiscriminate  act  of  severity,  evidently 
designed  to  extirpate  the  entire  family  of  Abimelech ;  but 
the  Almighty  frustrated  his  wicked  purpose,  by  preserving 
the  life  of  Abiathar,  one  of  the  high-priest's  sons,  and 
enabling  him  to  flee  to  David,  that  he  might  inform  him  of 
all  that  had  passed.  This  intelligence  of  Saul's  cruelty 
greatly  afflicted  David,  for  he  could  not  but  regard  himself 
as,  in  some  degree,  the  innocent  cause  of  it ;  and  he, 
therefore,  after  deeply  lamenting  that  so  melancholy  a 
catastrophe  should  have  occurred,  invited  Abiathar 
to  place  himself  under  his  protection,  saying,  "Abide 
thou  with  me  ;  fear  not :  for  he  that  seeketh  thy  life, 
seeketh  my  life ;  but  with  me  thou  shalt  be  in  safe- 
guard." 

While  David  and  his  companions  in  arms  dwelt  in  the 
forest  of  Hareth,  one  of  the  noblest  acts  of  his  eventful 
life  occurred.  The  restless  Philistines  once  more  invaded 
the  land  of  Israel,  and  entering  the  country  of  Judah,  took 
the  city  of  Keilah.  Intelligence  of  this  event  being  com- 
municated to  David,  he  at  once,  forgetting  all  the  injuries 
he  had  received  at  the  hand  of  Saul,  resolved  to  march 


188  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

to  the  relief  of  the  city.  But  before  he  entered  upon  so 
important  and  hazardous  an  enterprise,  he  repaired  to  the 
Divine  Oracle,  and  inquired  of  God,  saying,  "  Shall  I  go 
and  smite  these  Philistines?  And  the  Lord  said  unto 
David,  Go,  and  smite  the  Philistines,  and  save  Keilah ; 
for  I  will  deliver  the  Philistines  into  thine  hand.  So 
David  and  his  men  went  and  fought  with  the  Philistines, 
and  brought  away  the  spoil,  and  smote  them  with  a  great 
slaughter." 

David  having  thus  delivered  the  city  of  Keilah  out  of  the 
hands  of  the  Philistines,  seems  to  have  been  inclined  to 
take  up  his  abode  in  that  place;  and  with  this  view  he 
consulted  the  Almighty,  in  order  to  ascertain  whether 
the  inhabitants  of  Keilah  would  support  him,  should  the 
city  be  invested  by  the  army  of  Saul.  The  reply  to 
his  enquiry  was,  that  the  people  of  Keilah  would  prove 
perfidious  to  him ;  and  he,  therefore,  retired  with  his  fol- 
lowers to  some  strongholds  in  the  wilderness  of  Ziph — a 
mountainous  region  within  the  precincts  of  the  tribe  of 
Judah,  and  on  the  confines  of  Edom. 

The  news  of  David's  triumph  over  the  Philistines  at 
Keilah,  soon  reached  the  ears  of  Saul,  who,  fearing  lest 
he  should  fortify  himself  in  that  place,  immediately  marched 
his  army  thither  in  pursuit  of  him ;  but  on  arriving  at 
Keilah,  and  being  informed  whither  his  intended  prey  had 
fled,  he  followed  David  into  the  wilderness,  and  there 
"  sought  him  every  day ;  but  God  delivered  him  not  into 
his  hand."  While  hunted  thus  by  Saul,  David  received  a 
visit  from  Jonathan,  who  had  been  secretly  informed  of 
the  place  of  his  concealment ;  and  at  the  close  of  their 
brief  interview,  Jonathan  endeavored  to  encourage  the 
heart  of  his  friend,  by  exhorting  him,  notwithstanding  his 
many  trials,  not  to  be  disheartened,  saying,  "  Fear  not ; 
for  the  hand  of  Saul,  my  father,  shall  not  find  thee :  and 


THE      KINGS.  189 

thou  shall  be  king  over  Israel,  and  I  shall  be  next  to  thee. 
And  they  renewed  their  covenant  before  the  Lord." 

The  Ziphites  were  in  the  interest  of  Saul ;  and  they, 
therefore,  no  sooner  learned  that  David  abode  among  them, 
than  they  communicated  intelligence  of  the  fact  to  the 
king,  and  offered,  should  he  afford  them  sufficient  aid,  to 
deliver  him  into  his  hands.  This  information  from  the  Ziph- 
ites afforded  Saul  the  greatest  satisfaction,  and  he  accord 
ingly  entered  at  once  into  their  schemes  ;  but  David,  being 
apprised  of  the  conspiracy  formed  against  him,  left  the 
country  of  the  Ziphites,  and  retired  southward  to  the 
wilderness  of  Maon.  Thither  Saul  immediately  followed, 
and  soon  pressed  so  closely  upon  him  that  nothing  but  a 
small  mountain-range  separated  the  two  armies ;  but  just 
as  Saul  was  about  to  grasp  his  supposed  victim,  news  was 
brought  to  him  that  a  Philistine  army  had  invaded  his 
country,  and  that  his  immediate  presence  was  requisite 
to  repel  them.  Thus,  by  the  direct  interposition  of  the 
Almighty,  was  David  delivered  from  one  of  the  most  immi- 
nent dangers  of  his  life ;  but  though  Saul  had  withdrawn 
his  army,  he  did  not  consider  it  safe  longer  to  remain 
where  he  then  was,  and  he  therefore  took  shelter  among 
the  strong-holds  of  Engedi — a  desert  place,  on  the  western 
confines  of  the  Dead  Sea. 

Saul  having  defeated  the  Philistines  and  returned  to 
Gibeah,  immediately  sought  intelligence  of  David  and  his 
followers  ;  and  having  learned  that  they  were  in  the  wilder- 
ness of  Engedi,  he  selected  three  thousand  of  his  choicest 
troops,  and  went  to  seek  David  and  his  men  "  upon  the 
rocks  of  the  wild  goats."  On  the  approach  of  Saul's  army 
David  and  his  men  concealed  themselves  in  a  large  dark 
cave,  the  mouth  of  which  Saul  himself  soon  after  entered ; 
and  while  there,  and  not  suspecting  the  approach  even  of 
danger,  David  came  quietly  behind  him,  and  cut  off  the 


190  TUE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

skirt  of  his  robe.  Saul  soon  after  left  the  cave,  and  David, 
following  him  at  a  short  distance,  called  after  him  and  said, 
"  My  lord  the  king.;  wherefore  hearest  thou  men's  words, 
saying,  Behold,  David  seeketh  thy  hurt.  -Behold,  this 
day  thine  eyes  have  seen  how  that  the  Lord  had  delivered 
thee,  to-day,  into  mine  hani  in  the  cave;  and  some  bade 
rae  kill  thee,  but  mine  eye  spared  thee,  and  I  said  I  will 
not  put  forth  mine  hand  against  my  lord,  for  he  is  the 
Lord's  anointed.  Moreover,  my  father,  see,  yea,  see  the 
skirt  of  thy  robe  in  my  hand ;  for  in  that  I  cut  off  the 
skirt  of  thy  robe,  and  killed  thee  not,  know  thou  and  see, 
that  there  is  neither  evil  nor  transgression  in  mine  hand, 
and  I  have  not  sinned  against  thee ;  yet  thou  huntest  my 
soul  to  take  it.  The  Lord  judge  between  me  and  thee, 
and  the  Lord  avenge  me  of  thee ;  but  mine  hand  shall  not 
be  upon  thee."  This  magnanimous  conduct  on  the  part 
of  David  so  sensibly  touched  the  chords  of  Saul's  better 
nature,  that  he  became  deeply  affected,  "  And  Saul  lifted 
up  his  voice  and  wept,  and  said,  Is  this  thy  voice,  my  son 
David  ?  Thou  art  more  righteous  than  I ;  for  thou  hast 
rewarded  me  good,  whereas  I  have  rewarded  thee  evil.  And 
thou  hast  shewed  this  day  how  that  thou  hast  dealt  well 
with  me :  forasmuch  as  when  the  Lord  had  delivered  me 
into  thine  hand,  thou  killedst  me  not.  And  now  behold,  I 
know  well  that  thou  shalt  surely  be  king,  and  that  the 
kingdom  of  Israel  shall  be  established  in  thine  hand. 
Swear  now  therefore  unto  me  by  the  Lord,  that  thou  wilt 
not  destroy  my  name  out  of  my  father's  house.  And 
David  sware  unto  Saul.''  At  the  close  of  this  important 
interview,  Saul  returned  with  his  army  to  Gibeah;  but 
David  and  his  followers  remained  in  Engedi. 

In  1059,  A.  C,  during  the  brief  interval  which  followed 
the  remarkable  incident  just  related,  the  nation  was  called 
upon   to  mourn  over  the  death  of  the  prophet  Samuel. 


THE     KINGS.  191 

The  event,  however,  should  not  have  been  unexpected,  aa 
the  venerable  prophet  had  attained  the  ninety-eighth 
year  of  his  age,  during  twelve  of  which  he  had  governed 
Israel  alone,  and  had  afterwards,  for  eighteen  years, 
in  conjunction  with  Saul,  officiated  as  judge.  In  the  brief 
record  of  the  sacred  text,  the  melancholy  event  is  thus 
touchingly  chronicled : — "  And  Samuel  died ;  and  all  the 
Israelites  were  gathered  together,  and  lamented  for  him, 
and  buried  him  in  his  house  at  Eamah" — a  simple  notice 
of  the  end  of  so  great  a  man,  but  one  which  shows  how 
strong  a  hold  Samuel  had  upon  the  heart  of  the  whole 
nation. 


SECTION    III 


Saul — David's  Adventure  with  Nabal — Spares  Saul's  life  a  second  time 
— His  Settlement  at  Ziklag — His  Wars  with  Ziklag^ — Saul's  Interview 
with  the  Sorceress  of  Endor— Battle  of  Gilboa— Death  of  Saul  and 
Jonathan — David's  Grief  on  the  occasion — David  recognized  at 
Hebron  as  King — Opposed  by  Abiier,  Saul's  Chief  General — Battle 
of  Hebron — David  declared  King  of  all  Israel. 

While  all  Israel  was  deploring  the  death  of  Samuel, 
David  left  Engedi  and  retired  again  to  the  vicinity  of 
Maon,  in  the  wilderness  of  Paran,  where  he  had  once  be- 
fore found,  for  a  brief  period,  a  temporary  retreat.  Not  far 
from  Maon  dwelt  Nabal,  a  man  of  great  wealth,  but  of  a 
churlish  and  morose  temper.  David,  by  extending  his 
protection  to  the  flocks  of  Nabal,  during  his  previous  resi- 
dence in  this  wilderness,  had  brought  him  under  great 
obligation  to  him';  and  he,  therefore,  thought  it  no  more 
than  reasonable  that  now,  when  he  himself  needed  assist- 
ance, the  obligation  should  be  returned.  Under  these 
circumstances  he  sent  a  deputation  of  his  young  men  to 
Nabal,  requesting  provisions  for  the  supply  of  the  imme- 
diate wants  of  his  followers. 


192  THE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

Compliance  with  this  moderate  request  of  David  Nabal 
not  only  peremptorily  refused,  but  he  also  treated  the 
messengers  of  David  in  the  most  insulting  manner.  This 
ungrateful  conduct  so  exasperated  David  that  he  resolved 
to  destroy  Nabal's  whole  family  that  very  night;  and  this 
resolution,  rash  as  it  was,  he  would  certainly  have  executed, 
had  he  not  been  fortunately  prevented  by  Abigail,  Nabal's 
wife.  One  of  her  servants  having  witnessed  the  indignity 
heaped  upon  David's  messengers  by  Nabal,  immediately 
communicated  intelligence  of  it  to  his  mistress ;  and  Abi- 
gail knowing  David's  power,  and  fearing  the  just  retalia- 
tion of  his  anger,  resolved  to  avert,  if  possible,  the  impend- 
ing danger.  With  this  view  she  ordered  her  servants 
hastily  to  put  up  a  large  quantity  of  provisions,  and  caus- 
ing them  to  be  jDlaced  upon  asses,  she  herself  hastened  to 
convey  them  to  David's  camp.  She  had,  however,  scarcely 
commenced  her  journey,  before  she  beheld  David,  at  the 
head  of  four  hundred  of  his  men,  descending  a  distant  hill, 
and  approaching  the  residence  of  Nabal,  with  the  fixed 
purpose  of  immediately  executing  his  fearful  design.  As 
soon  as  the  companies  met  Abigail  prostrated  herself  upon 
the  ground  before  David,  and  addressed  him  in  language 
so  affecting  and  appropriate,  that  his  resentment  was  at 
once  overcome ;  and  raising  her  from  the  earth  he  ex- 
claimed, "Blessed  be  the  Lord  God  of  Israel,  which  sent 
thee  this  day  to  meet  me :  and  blessed  be  thy  advice,  and 
blessed  be  thou  which  hast  kept  me  this  day  from  coming 
to  shed  blood,  and  from  revenging  myself  with  mine  ow^n 
hand." 

Abigail  having  thus  happily  pacified  David,  left  her 
present  with  him,  and  returned  to  her  own  house.  On 
her  arrival  at  home  she  found  Nabal  engaged  in  rioting 
and  drinking  with  a  number  of  his  dissolute  companions ; 
and  she,  therefore,  deferred  the  relation  of  what  had  just 


THE     KINGS.  193 

passed  until  the  following  morning,  that  in  his  sober  mo- 
ments he  might  be  the  better  prepared  fully  to  understand 
the  imminence  of  the  calamity  from  which  he  had  been  pre- 
served. By  the  relation,  however,  when  it  at  length  came. 
Nabal  was  so  greatly  terrified  that  his  heart  sank  within 
him ;  and  his  gloomy  and  fearful  apprehensions  of  future 
danger  so  completely  overwhelmed  him,  that  at  the  end  of 
ten  days  he  expired.  A  short  time  after  the  death  of  Nabal, 
Abigail  became  the  wife  of  David ;  and  he  also  married, 
about  the  same  time,  Ahinoam,  a  Jezreelitess.  His  first  wife, 
Michal,  the  daughter  of  Saul,  had  been  given  by  her  father 
to  a  young  man  named  Phalti,  in  order  to  remove  David 
from  all  pretensions  to  the  throne. 

The  respite  from  the  persecutions  of  Saul,  which  David 
enjoyed  after  the  scene  in  the  cave,  was,  notwithstanding 
Saul's  solemn  protestations,  brief  and  transient ;  for  the 
Ziphites  had  no  sooner  informed  him  of  David's  return  to 
their  wilderness,  than  he  placed  himself  at  the  head  of 
three  thousand  of  his  choicest  troops,  and  marched  in  pur- 
suit of  him.  Having  reached  the  wilderness,  Saul  encamped 
his  forces  on  Mount  Hachilah;  and  on  the  evening  of  the 
same  day,  David,  accompanied  by  his  cousin,  Abishai, 
went  to  reconnoitre  the  king's  position.  Approaching  the 
royal  camp,  he  found  the  whole  army  wrapped  in  so  pro- 
found a  sleep,  that  he  entered  unobserved  the  king's  tent, 
and  took  from  it  Saul's  spear,  and  cruse  of  water.  Eetir- 
ing  with  these  evidences  of  the  success  of  his  adventure,  to 
an  eminence,  within  hearing  distance  of  the  king's  cair^p, 
be  first  aroused  the  sleeping  multitude,  and  then  exhibit- 
ing the  spear  and  the  cruse,  reproached  Abner,  Saul's 
chief  general,  in  the  bitterest  and  most  sarcastic  terms,  for 
not  more  faithfully  guarding  the  person  of  his  royal  mas- 
ter. Saul  no  sooner  witnessed  this  thrilling  scene,  than 
he  was  completely  overcome  by  David's  gracious  forbear 


194  THE     ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

ance ;  and  he,  therefore,  conscious  of  his  own  guilty  pur, 
pose,  in  pursuing  David's  life,  exclaimed,  "  I  have  sinned ; 
return,  my  son  David ;  for  I  will  do  thee  no  harm,  be- 
cause my  soul  was  precious  in  thine  eyes  this  day.  I  have 
played  the  fool,  and  erred  exceedingly.  Blessed  be  thou, 
my  son  David ;  thou  shalt  both  do  great  things,  and  also 
shalt  stOl  prevail." 

But  notwithstanding  this  second  apparent  relenting  of 
Saul,  and  fresh  assurance  that  he  should  thenceforth  be 
unharmed  by  him,  still  David  felt  convinced  that  there 
could  be  no  safety  for  him  while  he  remained  within  the 
bounds  of  Israel ;  and  he  therefore  formed  the  desperate 
resolution  of  placing  himself  under  the  protection  of  the 
Philistines.  Accordingly,  he  soon  after  repaired,  with  his 
six  hundred  followers,  to  Achish,  king  of  Gath;  and  as 
the  Philistine  monarch  was  fully  aware  of  tlie  rupture  be- 
tween David  and  Saul,  the  young  hero  was  now  received 
by  him  with  the  greatest  courtesy  and  kindness.  David 
had  dwelt  but  a  short  time  in  Gath,  before  he  became  a 
distinguished  favorite  of  the  king ;  and  availing  himself 
of  this  favorable  circumstance,  he  requested  that  he  and 
his  followers  might  take  possession  of  Ziklag — a  city 
situated  in  the  southern  extremity  of  the  land  of  Judahj 
but  which  that  tribe  had  never  held  as  a  permanent  resi 
dence.  1'his  request  being  readily  granted,  David  imme- 
diately removed  thither;  and  he  had  scarcely  become 
settled  in  Ziklag  before  he  was  joined  by  so  many  of  Saul's 
most  distinguished  officers  and  soldiers,  as  to  render  his 
force  truly  formidable. 

Soon  after  David's  settlement  in  Ziklag,  he  was  enabled, 
from  the  great  increase  of  his  followers,  to  assume  the 
aspect  of  an  independent  prince,  and  to  attack,  on  his  own 
account,  the  Amalekites,  the  Geshurites,  the  Gezrites,  and 
other  tribes  who  still,  lingered  in  the  SQuthern  pari;  of  the 


THE     KINGS.  195 

possessions  of  Judab.  From  these  common  enemies,  all  of 
whom  he  put  to  the  sword,  David  obtained  immense 
spoils — a  large  proportion  of  which  he  bestowed  upon  the 
king  of  Gath,  as  an  acknowledgment  of  his  obligation  to 
him  for  his  favor  and  protection.  Achish,  supposing  that 
these  spoils  had  been  taken  from  the  Israelites,  was  led  by 
this  circumstance  to  regard  David  as  one  of  his  most  faith- 
ful adherents ;  and  as  he  was  preparing  to  turn  his  entire 
force  against  the  Israelites,  he  sent  messengers  to  David, 
to  acquaint  him  wth  his  design,  and  to  desire  him  to  lead 
his  followers  at  once  to  Shunem,  the  general  rendezvous 
of  the  Philistine  army.  The  position  in  which  this  request 
placed  David  was  peculiarly  trying ;  for,  while,  on  the  one 
hand,  gratitude  to- Achish  urged  him  to  a  compliance  with 
the  king  s  request,  on  the  other,  should  he  comply,  he 
would  be  found  fighting  against  his  own  countrymen. 
He  at  length  resolved,  however,  to  march  his  army  to 
Shunem,  and  leave  the  event  to  the  disposal  of  a  wise 
Providence. 

Saul  having  received  intelligence  that  the  Philistines 
had  advanced  as  far  as  Shunem,  and  were  there  en- 
camped, immediately  marched  against  them,  and  encamped 
his  army  near  the  mountains  of  Gilboa,  directly  opposite 
the  camp  of  the  enemy.  The  Philistine  army  being  much 
more  numerous  than  the  army  of  Israel,  Saul  began  to 
fear  that  he  would  not  be  successful  against  them ;  and  his 
fears  were  greatly  increased,  when,  on  asking  direction  of 
the  Almighty,  he  received  no  answer.  In  absolute  despair, 
he  now  had  recourse  to  necromancy ;  and  secretly  repair- 
ing to  Endor,  about  nine  miles  from  Gilboa,  where  resided 
a  sorceress,  he  besought  her  to  bring  forth  from  his  grave 
the  prophet  Samuel.  Extraordinary  as  this  may  seem, 
God  permitted  the  form  of  Samuel  to  appear  to  Saul,  but 
only  to  remind  him  of  his  approaching  destruction  ;  for, 


196  THE     ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

to  the  king's  inquiries,  Samuel  replied,  "Wherefore  dost 
thou  ask  instruction  of  me,  seeing  the  Lord  is  departed 
from  thee  and  become  thine  enemy  ;  and  to-morrow  shalt 
thou  and  thy  sons  be  with  me ;  the  Lord  shall  also  deliver 
the  host  of  Israel  into  the  hand  of  the  Philistines." 

With  these  sad  tidings  Saul  returned  to  his  camp  ;  and 
on  the  following  morning  the  two  armies  changed  their 
position — the  Philistines  removing  to  Aphek,  and  the 
Israelites  to  Jezreel.  While  the  armies  were  thus  posi- 
tioned, some  of  the  Philistine  princes,  observing  David  and 
his  followers  with  the  king  of  Gath,  inquired  of  Achish 
why  they  were  there ;  and  when  they  were  informed  of  the 
circumstances  under  which  they  had  asked  his  protection, 
they  desired  that  they  might  be  dismissed  from  his  service ; 
fearing  that,  in  the  approaching  action,  they  would  desert 
their  new  ally,  and  join  their  own  countrymen.  With  this 
request  of  the  associate  princes,  Achish,  though  assured, 
from  David's  past  conduct,  that  he  would  be  faithful  to 
him,  was  obliged  to  comply  ;  and  in  dismissing  David  and 
his  followers  from  the  army,  he  thus  expressed  his  confi- 
dence in  David's  fidelity:  "  Surely  as  the  Lord  liveth,  thou 
bast  been  upright,  and  thy  going  out  and  tliy  coming  in 
with  me  in  the  host  is  good  in  my  sight ;  for  I  have  not 
found  evil  in  thee  since  the  day  of  thy  coming  unto  me 
unto  this  day;  nevertheless,  the  lords  favor  thee  not. 
Wherefore,  now  return,  and  go  in  peace,  that  thou  dis- 
please not  the  lords  of  the  Philistines." 

Thus  unexpectedly  relieved  from  his  embarrassing  situ- 
ation, David,  with  his  followers,  immediately  left  the 
Philistine  camp,  to  return  to  Ziklag;  and,  while  on  his 
march  thither,  he  was  joined  by  a  large  number  of  the 
tribe  of  Manasseh.  On  arriving  at  Ziklag  he  found  that, 
during  his  absence,  a  straggling  band  of  Araalekites  had 
pillaged  and  burnt  the  place,  and  made  captive  the  whole 


THE     KINGS.  197 

of  the  inhabitants,  including  his  two  wives.  Though  thia 
disaster  deeply  grieved  David,  yet  he  did  not  idly  pino 
over  his  loss  ;  but  determined  to  remedy,  as  far  as  possible, 
the  evil.  With  this  view,  he  desired  Abiathar  the  priest, 
to  consult  the  Lord  to  ascertain  whether,  if  he  should  pur- 
sue the  Amalekites,  he  would  be  successful;  and  being 
assured  that  he  "  would  surely  overtake  them,  and  without 
fail  recover  all,"  he  left  two  hundred  of  his  men  to  guard 
the  baggage,  and,  with  the  rest,  immediately  marched  after 
the  enemy.  Coming  upon  them  unexpectedly,  while  they 
were  rioting  over  their  spoils,  David  attacked  them  with 
such  energy  that  those  only  escaped  who  were  mounted 
upon  their  camels ;  and,  having  thus  regained  not  only  all 
that  had  been  taken  from  himself  and  his  followers,  but 
also  the  immense  plunder  which  those  robbers  bad  obtained 
from  other  places,  he  returned  in  triumph  to  Ziklag.  The 
flocks  and  herds  which  David  thus  suddenly  acquired,  he 
bestowed,  as  an  expression  of  gratitude,  upon  those  friends 
who  had  generously  succored  him,  during  his  various 
wanderings  in  the  wilderness. 

While  David  was  thus  engaged  with  the  Amalekites,  the 
decisive  battle  which  had  been  anticipated  between  the 
Philistines  and  the  Israelites,  occurred.  The  conflict  com- 
menced near  Jezreel ;  but  the  Israelites,  being  soon  over- 
powered by  the  superior  numbers  of  the  Philistines,  were 
compelled  to  give  way,  and  retreat  to  Gilboa.  Thither 
the  Philistines  pursued  them ;  and,  though  Saul  and  his 
sons  performed  prodigies  of  valor,  yet  all  proved  unavailing; 
the  day  of  Saul's  destruction  had  arrived,  and  he,  there- 
fore, after  witnessing  the  death  of  his  three  sons,  Jonathan, 
Abinadab,  and  Melchishua,  fell  upon  his  own  sword,  and 
thus  ingloriously  terminated  his  chequered  career.  "  So 
Saul  died,  for  his  transgi'ession  which  he  committed  against 
'•.he  Lord,  even  against  the  word  of  the  Lord,  whi5h  he 


198  THE     ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

kept  not ;  and  also  for  asking  counsel  of  one  that  had  a 
familiar  spirit.  And  the  Lord  turned  the  kingdom  unto 
David  the  son  of  Jesse." 

On  the  morning  of  the  third  day  after  the  fatal  battle  .>f 
Gilboa,  intelligence  of  the  sad  event  was  brought  to  David 
by  a  young  Amalekite,  who  had  been  a  spectator  of  tlie 
whole  scene,  and  an  eye-witness  of  the  death  of  Saul  and 
his  sons.  To  satisfy  David  of  the  correctness  of  his  infor- 
mation, the  Amalekite  produced  the  bracelet  and  crown  of 
Saul,  which  he  said  he  had  taken  oft'  of  the  king,  after  his 
death.  "Then  David  and  his  men  mourned,  and  wept,  and 
fasted,  until  even,  for  Saul,  and  for  Jonathan  his  son,  an'd 
for  the  people  of  the  Lord,  and  for  the  house  of  Israel." 
David  gave  also  a  more  enduring  expression  of  his  grief 
for  the  death  of  Saul  and  Jonathan,  by  the  composition  of 
one  of  the  most  beautiful  elegiacs  on  record — the  whole  of 
which  is  still  preserved  in  the  first  chapter  of  the  second 
book  of  Samuel. 

David's  grief  for  the  death  of  Saul  was  a  sincere  expres- 
sion of  his  loyalty,  and  because  he  was  "  The  Lord's 
Anointed ;"  but  he  mourned  the  loss  of  Jonathan  as  that 
of  his  most  endeared  personal  friend — one  in  whom  he 
had  ever  reposed  the  most  unlimited  confidence,  and  who, 
with  the  sympathies  of  a  brother,  had,  from  his  youth,  shared 
in  all  his  joys  and  sorrows.  The  character  of  Jonathan 
has,  indeed,  scarcely  a  parallel  in  either  sacred  or  profane 
history.  It  combined  the  attributes  of  fortitude,  fidelity, 
and  magnanimity,  with  a  soul  susceptible  of  the  most  re- 
fined friendship,  and  superior  to  all  the  temptations  of  am- 
bition and  vanity  ;  and  all  these  rare  qualities  were  crowned 
with  perfect  resignation  to  the  will  of  the  Almighty. 

Early  on  the  morning  following  the  battle  of  Gilboa,  the 
Philistines  returned  to  the  field  of  carnage ;  and  finding 
amoBgst  the  slain  the  bodies  of  Saul  and  his  sons,  they 


THE     KINGS.  199 

first  stripped  them  of  their  armor — which  they  placed  in 
the  temple  of  their  idol  Ashtaroth — and  then,  having  cut 
oflf  their  heads,  nailed  their  bodies  to  the  walls  of  Beth- 
shan — a  city  belonging  to  the  tribe  of  Manasseh.  As  soon, 
however,  as  the  people  of  Jabesh-Gilead,  who  still  retained 
a  grateful  sense  of  obligation  to  their  late  sovereign  for 
having  delivered  them  out  of  the  hands  of  their  relentless 
foe,  Nahash,  heard  of  the  indignity  with  which  the  remains 
pf  Saul  and  those  of  his  sons  had  been  treated  by  the 
Philistines,  they  selected  from  their  number  a  choice  band 
of  daring  spirits,  and  sent  them  to  Bethshan,  to  rescue,  if 
possible,  those  bodies  fi'om  their  disgraceful  exposure.  The 
enterprise  entirely  succeeded — the  bodies  were  recovered ; 
and,  being  brought  to  Jabesh,  the  flesh  was  first  consumed 
by  fire,  and  then  the  ashes  and  bones  were  carefidly  buried 
near  the  city. 

The  death  of  Saul,  in  1055  A.  Cv,  leaving  the  succession 
to  the  throne  of  Israel  open  to  David,  the  Almighty  directed 
him  to  go  up  to  Hebron,  the  chief  city  of  the  tribe  of  Judah, 
there  to  be  recognized  as  their  future  monarch.  On  his 
arrival  at  Hebron,  the  princes  of  Judah  repaired  thither  in 
a  body,  and,  after  congratulating  him  on  his  return  to  his 
jiative  country,  they  called  a  public  assembly  of  the  people, 
and  immediately  anointed  him  king.  David's  grief  for  the 
death  of  Saul  and  Jonathan  was  not,  however,  entirely  al- 
layed by  this  sudden  change  in  his  own  fortunes;  and, 
having  been  informed  of  the  noble  conduct  of  the  people 
of  Jabesh-Gilead,  in  rescuing  the  bodies  of  Saul  and  his 
sons  from  the  Philistines  and  giving  them  an  honorable 
burial,  he  sent  an  embassy  to  them  to  thank  them  for  what 
they  had  done,  and  to  assure  them  that  they  might  thence- 
forward depend  upon  his  favor  and  protection.  He  also  in-^ 
structed  his  embassadors  to  inform  the  people  of  Gilead  that 
the  tribe  of  Judah  had  elevated  him  to  the  vacant  throne... 


200  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

Elevated  thus  to  the  throne  by  the  tribe  of  Judah,  David 
commen(;ed  his  administration  by  appointing  Joab  com- 
mander of  his  forces ;  but  he  soon  found  a  powerful  oppo- 
nent, in  the  person  of  Abner,  the  general-in-chief  of  the 
late  kings  hosts.  That  he  might  the  more  effectually 
oppose  David,  he  caused  Ishbosheth,  the  only  surviving 
son  of  Saul,  to  be  proclaimed  king  over  all  the  tribes  of 
Israel  except  the  tribe  of  Judah ;  and,  in  order  to  secure 
the  support  of  the  gallant  Gileadites,  he  selected  Mahanaim, 
a  city  belonging  to  the  tribe  of  Gad,  and  situated  on  the 
east  side  of  the  river  Jordan,  as  the  place  of  his  abode. 
The  standard  of  opposition  to  David  being  thus  reared, 
Abner  declared  war  against  him ;  and  that  no  time  might 
be  lost,  he  immediately  led  a  select  body  of  his  troops  into 
the  land  of  Judah,  to  open  an  attack  upon  Hebron.  In 
the  mean  time  David,  being  informed  that  Abner  was 
marching  upon  Hebron,  sent  his  general,  Joab,  accompa- 
nied by  his  two  brothers,  Abishai  and  Asahel,  to  oppose 
him.  The  two  armies  met  near  Gibeon ;  and,  as  soon  as 
they  were  drawn  up  in  battle  array,  Abner  challenged  Joab 
to  decide  the  contest  by  twelve  champions  selected  from 
each  army.  This  chjiUenge  being  accepted,  the  men  were 
drawn  out ;  and  such  was  the  skill  and  desperation  with 
which  they  fought,  that  each  man  killed  his  antagonist — 
and,  consequently,  neither  party  triumphed.  A  general 
action,  therefore,  immediately  followed,  and,  for  some  time, 
it  was  uncertain  which  party  would  prevail ;  but,  at  length, 
the  forces  of  Abner  gave  way  and  endeavored  to  save 
themselves  by  flight. 

Flushed  with  their  victory,  Joab  and  his  brothers  eagerly 
pursued  the  fugitives ;  and  Asahel  being  remarkably  fleet 
of  foot,  ran  far  in  advance  of  the  rest  of  the  army;  and 
overtaking  Abner,  a  single  contest  took  place  between 
them.    Into  this  contest  Abner  was  very  reluctantly  drawn; 


THE     KINGS.  201 

and  he,  therefore,  earnestly  remonstrated  with  Asahel,  and 
besought  him  to  desist,  lest  the  result  should  be  the  forfeit- 
ure of  his  life.  To  this  earnest  remonstrance  Asahel 
paid  no  regard;  and  being  anxious  to  take  the  general 
prisoner,  he  rushed  upon  him  so  incautiously  that  Abner, 
to  save  himself,  thrust  him  through  with  his  spear,  and  laid 
him  dead  at  his  feet.  The  victorious  army  soon  after 
arrived  at  the  spot  where  the  body  of  Asahel  lay ;  and  at 
the  appalling  sight  they  were  so  greatly  shocked,  that  they 
immediately  ceased  the  pursuit.  Of  this  pause  in  the  ac- 
tion Abner  availed  himself  to  rally  his  scattered  forces ; 
and  conducting  his  men  to  an  adjacent  elevation,  beyond 
the  reach  of  the  array  of  Joab,  but  still  within  hearing  dis- 
tance, he  addressed  him,  saying,  "  Shall  the  sword  devour 
forever?  Knowest  thou  not  that  it  will  be  bitterness  in 
the  latter  end?  How  long  shall  it  be,  then,  ere  thou  bid 
the  people  return  from  following  their  brethren  ?" 

This  remonstrance  of  Abnei  had  the  desired  effect,  and 
Joab,  accordingly,  sounded  a  retreat,  and  the  two  armies 
separated  —  Abner  returning  to  Mahanaim,  while  Joab 
remained  for  the  night  where  he  then  w^as.  On  the  follow- 
ing morning  he  returned  to  the  scene  of  battle,  and,  from  an 
examination  of  the  slain,  he  found  that  Abner  had  lost  in 
the  action  three  hundred  and  sixty  of  his  men,  while  his 
own  loss  was  but  nineteen.  Joab's  grief,  however,  for  the 
loss  of  Asahel,  was  deep  and  pungent ;  and  after  the  usual 
expressions  of  mourning,  he  and  his  brother  Abishai  con- 
veyed the  body  of  Asahel  to  Bethlehem,  and  there  entombed 
it  in  the  sepulchre  of  his  ancestors.  This  sacred  rite 
performed,  they  set  out  with  their  army  for  Hebron,  and 
by  a  forced  march  during  the  night,  they  reached  that 
place  early  the  following  morning. 

About  two  years  elapsed  from  the  death  of  Saul  to  the 
battle  of  Gibeon ;  and  during  the  five  and  a  half  years 
9* 


202  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

which  followed  the  latter  event,  a  civil  war  was  constantly 
kept  up  between  the  contending  parties,  the  result  of  almost 
every  incident  of  which  favored  the  cause  of  David.  The 
continuance  of  this  contest  for  so  many  years  is  mainly 
attributable  to  the  prudence  and  address  of  Abner ;  but  at 
length  a  quarrel  of  so  serious  a  nature  occurred  between 
that  general  and  Ishbosheth,  as  to  induce  Abner  to  deter- 
mine to  transfer  his  interest  and  influence  to  the  cause  ot 
David.  Having  settled  in  his  own  mind  this  determina 
tion,  he  addressed  himself  to  Ishbosheth,  saying,  "  As  the 
Lord  hath  sworn  unto  David,  even  so  do  I  unto  him ;  to 
translate  the  kingdom  from  the  house  of  Saul,  and  to  set 
up  the  throne  of  David  over  Israel,  and  over  Judah,  from 
Dan  even  to  Beer-sheba." 

In  accordance  with  this  fixed  purpose,  Abner  sent  mes- 
sengers to  Hebron,  through  whom  he  proposed  to  David 
to  bring,  on  certain  conditions,  those  tribes  over  to  his 
interest  which  had  hitherto  adhered  to  the  house  of  Saul. 
These  messengers  David  received  with  the  utmost  courtesy ; 
but  he  declined  to  enter  into  any  negotiations  with  Abner, 
unless  he  would  first  cause  his  wife,  Michal,  the  daughter 
of  Saul,  to  be  restored  to  him.  The  desire  of  David  for 
the  restoration  of  Michal,  was  no  sooner  communicated  to 
Abner  by  his  messengers,  than  he  constrained  Phaltiel, 
upon  whom  he  had  bestowed  her,  to  deliver  her  up  to  her 
lawful  husband.  This  being  done,  Michal  was  immediately 
sent  to  Hebron  ;  and  the  only  obstacle  in  the  way  of 
the  execution  of  Abner's  purpose  being  thus  removed,  he 
assembled  together  the  elders  and  principal  men  of  Israel, 
at  Mahanaim,  and  said  to  them,  "  Ye  sought  for  David  in 
times  past,  to  be  king  over  you.  Now  then  do  it,  for  the 
Lord  hath  spoken  of  David,  saying,  By  the  hand  of  my  ser- 
vant David,  I  will  save  my  people  Israel  out  of  the  hand  of 
the  Philistines,  and  out  of  the  hand  of  all  their  enemies."  The 


THE     KINGS 


203 


elders  of  Israel,  and  the  officers  of  the  army,  having  long  de- 
sired to  transfer  their  allegiance  from  Ishbosheth  to  David, 
readily  acceded  to  Abner's  proposal;  and  their  example 
was  immediately  followed  by  the  whole  tribe  of  Benjamin. 
Having  thus  consummated  his  arrangements  in  favor  of 
David,  Abner  selected  twenty  of  the  most  eminent  of  the 
Benjamites,  and  with  them  repaired  to  Hebron,  to  ratify 
the  treaty  into  which  he  and  David  had  entered.     David 
received  him  and  his  companions  with  the  greatest  kind- 
ness; and,   after  having  entertained  them   in   the   most 
sumptuous  manner  for  ten  days,  Abner  left  Hebron  for  the 
purpose   of  bringing   the   elders   of  the   people  and  the 
officers  of  the  army  thither,  that  he  might  in  their  pre- 
sence, and  under  their  sanction,  publicly  deliver  the  gov- 
ernment into  David's  hands. 

Soon  after  Abner  had  left  Hebron,  Joab  returned  from 
a  successful  expedition  against  the  Philistines;  and  being 
informed  that  that  distinguished  general  had,  during  his 
absence,  visited  the  king,  and  been  received  by  him  in  the 
most  flattering  manner,  his  jealous  fears  became  at  once 
alarmed,  lest  Abner,  after  his  reconciliation  with  David, 
should  supplant  him  in  his  favor.  Under  the  influence  of 
the  excitement  which  these  fears  produced,  Joab  imme- 
diately repaired  to  the  king,  and  severely  reproached  him 
for  listening  to  Abner's  proposals,  and  allowing  him  to 
depart  from  Hebron  in  safety.  He  then,  in  the  king's 
name,  sent  messengers  in  pursuit  of  Abner ;  and  they, 
having  overtaken  him  at  the  well  of  Sirah,  requested  him 
to  return  immediately  to  Hebron,  as  the  king  had  some 
farther  important  communication  to  make  to  him.  Abner, 
not  suspecting  any  evil,  unhesitatingly  obeyed,  as  he  sup- 
posed, the  royal  summons  ;  but  on  his  way  back  to  Hebron 
he  was  waylaid  by  Joab  and  his  brother  Abishai,  and 
inhumanly  murdered. 


204  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

When  David  was  informed  of  the  death  of  Abner,  and 
of  the  circumstances  attending  that  melancholy  event,  his 
grief  was  excessive ;  and  having  first  publicly  exonerated 
himself  from  all  participation  in  the  foul  and  wicked  trans- 
action, he  next  ordered  that  the  funeral  ceremonies  should 
be  observed  in  the  most  solemn  and  impressive  manner ; 
and  to  give  to  the  scene  all  the  imposingness  possible,  he 
himself  walked  at  the  head  of  the  procession  as  the  chief 
mourner.  The  day  preceding  the  burial  of  Abner  David 
passed  in  solemn  prayer  and  fasting;  and  immediately 
after  the  ceremonies  were  closed,  he  publicly  addressed  the 
people,  expatiating  upon  the  various  virtues  of  the  deceased, 
and  deploring  the  loss  both  to  himself  and  to  the  nation, 
of  so  brave  a  soldier,  and  so  wise  and  prudent  a  counsellor. 
The  power  and  influence  of  Joab  were,  however,  so  great, 
that  David  did  not  feel  warranted  in  punishing  him  as  his 
crime  deserved ;  and  he,  therefore,  closed  his  address  with 
the  reflection,  that  "  The  Lord  shall  reward  the  doer  of 
evil  according  to  his  wickedness." 

Soon  after  the  death  of  Abner  Ishbosheth  was  publicly 
murdered  by  Baanah  and  Rechab,  two  of  the  principal 
oflicers  of  the  army ;  and  intelligence  of  this  event  being 
soon  spread  throughout  the  nation,  all  the  tribes  at  once 
sent  deputies  to  Hebron,  to  acknowledge  David's  right  to 
the  sovereignty,  and  to  pledge  to  him  their  allegi.ance. 
Thus  David,  in  the  thirty-eighth  year  of  his  age,  and  after 
having  reigned  seven  and  a  half  years  over  the  tribe  of 
Judah  at  Hebron,  became,  in  1048,  A.  C,  by  common  con 
ijent,  king  of  all  Israel. 


THE     KINGS.  205 


SECTION    IV. 

David— Jerusalem  taken,  and  made  the  Capital  of  the  Kingdom— De- 
feat of  the  Philistines — Eemoval  of  the  Tabernacle  and  the  Ark  to 
Jerusalem — David  designs  to  build  a  Temple  to  Jehovah,  but  ifl 
forbidden— War  with  the  Moabites— Triumphs  over  other  Nations- 
Organization  of  the  Army,  and  Settlement  of  the  Government— Dia 
Kindness  to  Mephibosheth— Joab's  Triumph  over  the  Ammonites  and 
the  SjTians. 

David  being  now  invested  with  full  regal  authority  over 
all  Israel,  and  having  a  brave  and  gallant  army  at  his  com- 
mand, resolved  to  signalize  the  commencement  of  his  reign 
by  the  reduction  of  Jerusalem,  the  strong-hold  of  the 
Jebusites.  He,  accordingly,  without  loss  of  time,  marched 
his  army  against  that  place ;  and  having  -arrived  before  the 
citadel,  or  fort  of  Zion,  which  commanded  the  city,  he  sum- 
moned the  garrison  to  surrender.  The  Jebusites,  however, 
supposing  the  place  to  be  impregnable,  haughtily  derided 
his  command ;  and  in  their  reply  to  his  summons,  they 
intimated  that  such  was  the  strength  of  the  place,  that  the 
lame  and  the  blind  alone,  within  it,  would  be  able  to  de- 
fend it  against  any  assault  of  an  enemy. 

Irritated  by  this  haughty  defiance,  David  immediately  de- 
termined that  the  citadel  should,  at  all  hazards,  be  reduced ; 
and  he,  therefore,  in  order  to  excite  the  emulation  of  hia 
soldiers,  caused  proclamation  to  be  made  throughout  the 
camp  that,  "  Whoever  scaleth  the  wall,  and  smiteth  the 
Jebusites  first,  shall  be  chief  and  captain."  Joab,  who 
was  then  at  the  head  of  the  army,  being  more  alert  and 
active  than  any  of  his  associates,  seized  this  new  opportunity 
to  signalize  his  valor ;  and  he  was,  therefore,  the  first  to 
mount  the  wall  and  attack  the  enemy.  This  daring  action 
of  their  leader  being  immediately  imitated  by  a  large  body 
of  the  troops,  the  garrison  was  soon  overcome ;  and  as  the 
flight  of  its  defenders  was  witnessed  by  the  inhabitants  of 
the  city,  they  at  once  followed  their  example ;  and  thus 


206  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

the  whole  place  now  became  an  easy  conquest  to  the  army 
of  Israel.  "  So  David  took  the  strong-hold  of  Zion,  and 
called  it  The  city  of  David." 

Having  thus  taken  Jerusalem,  David  resolved  to  make 
it,  thenceforth,  the  royal  residence ;  and  he,  therefore,  ex- 
tended the  city  to  the  citadel,  and  commissioned  Joab  to 
repair  and  beautify^  the  old  city  of  Jebus,  for  the  better  ac- 
commodation of  the  people.  Jerusalem,  however,  con- 
tained  no  dwelling  place  suitable  for  the  residence  of  the 
king ;  and  David,  therefore,  resolved  to  build  a  royal  palace 
on  one  of  the  high  places  of  the  city,  to  aid  him  in  the 
erection  of  which,  Hiram,  king  of  Tyre,  with  whom  he  had 
entered  into  a  treaty  of  alliance,  sent  him  cedar  tre«s,  car- 
penters, and  other  artificers — the  Tyrians  being  at  that 
time  much  better  skilled  in  the  mechanical  arts  than  the 
Israelites. 

While  the  preparations  for  the  permanent  abode  of  David 
in  the  city  of  Jerusalem  were  thus  advancing,  the  Philis- 
tines, the  common  enemies  of  Israel,  resolved  to  check  his 
increasing  greatness,  before  his  strength  should  become 
invincible ;  and  with  this  view  they  raised  a  powerful 
army,  marched  towards  Jerusalem,  and  encamped  on  the 
plains  of  Eephaim,  which  was  separated  from  the  fortress 
of  Zion  by  the  valley  of  Hinnom.  When  David  received 
intelligence  of  the  approach  of  this  formidable  enemy,  he 
inquired  of  the  Lord,  "  Whether  he  should  go  up  to  the 
Philistines ;"  and  being  answered  in  the  affirmative,  with 
the  additional  assurance  of  success,  he  immediately  drew 
out  his  men  of  war,  and  fell  upon  the  enemy  so  suddenly, 
and  with  such  intrepidity,  that  they  were  completely  routed 
— great  numbers  of  them  being  slain  upon  the  spot,  while 
the  rest,  to  save  their  lives,  resorted  to  a  precipitate  flight. 
In  their  haste  to  escape  from  the  fury  of  David's  soldiers, 
the  Philistines  left  their  idols,  which  they  always  carried 


THE     KINGS.  207 

with  them  to  the  field  of  battle,  behind  them ;  and  when 
David  perceived  this,  he  ordered  them  all  to  be  gathere<i 
together  in  one  common  pile,  and  consumed  with  fire. 

The  Philistines,  however,  so  far  from  being  intimidated 
by  this  defeat,  soon  after  returned  towards  Jerusalem  with 
a  much  more  powerful  army  than  that  which  had  so  re- 
cently been  overthrown  ;  and  with  this  increased  force  thev 
encamped  upon  the  same  plain  which  they  had  before  occu- 
pied. David,  on  this  occasion,  as  on  the  former,  again 
consulted  the  Almighty  respecting  the  manner  in  which  he 
should  meet  this  Philistine  host ;  upon  which  he  was  in- 
formed that  he  should  not  go  out  boldly  to  attack  them  as 
before,  but  should  conceal  his  army  behind  an  adjacent 
wood  of  mulberry  trees,  and  there  remain  until  he  should 
hear  a  movement  "  on  the  tops  of  the  mulberry  trees ;  for 
then  shall  the  Lord  go  out  before  thee  to  smite  the  host  of 
the  Philistines."  David  strictly  observed  these  directions, 
and  remained,  with  his  army  in  concealment  until  the 
Providential  sign  appeared,  immediately  after  which  he 
drew  forth  his  forces,  and,  in  the  firm  assurance  of  success, 
advanced,  at  once,  to  the  enemy's  camp.  This  unexpected 
appearance  of  the  Israelitish  army,  threw  the  Philistine 
host  into  the  utmost  confusion ;  and  David,  accordingly, 
routing  them  with  great  ease,  pursued  such  as  fled  from 
the  field  of  battle  as  far  as  Gazer — a  city  situated  on  the 
extreme  border  of  their  country.  After  this  second  defeat 
the  Philistines  left  the  Israelites  unmolested  for  many 
years. 

The  war  with  the  Philistines  being  thus  ended,  David 
embraced  the  interval  of  peace  which  followed,  to  remove 
the  Ark  of  God  from  the  house  of  Abinadab,  at  Kirjath- 
jearim,  to  Jerusalem,  its  future  resting  place.  As  he  re- 
garded the  occasion  as  one  of  great  importance,'  he  assem- 
bled the  elders  and  principal  men  of  the  several  tribes,  that 


208  THE     ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

they  might  accompany  him  to  Kirjath-jearim  in  solemn 
procession,  and  thence  bring  the  Ark  to  his  new  capital. 
In  its  removal,  however,  they  committed  an  essential  error ; 
for  instead  of  placing  it  upon  the  shoulders  of  the  priests, 
as  its  sacred  character  required,  they  put  it  upon  a  cart 
drawn  by  two  oxen.  In  this  order  they  advanced  to  a 
place  called  Machon's  threshing-floor ;  but  as  the  Ark  here 
suddenly  tilted  on  one  side,  Uzzah,  the  driver  of  the  oxen, 
fearing  it  would  fall  to  the  ground,  placed  his  hand  upon 
it  to  sustain  it.  For  thus  touching,  with  unhallowed 
hands,  the  sacred  vessel,  the  Almighty  punished  Uzzah 
with  instant  death ;  and  this  melancholy  circumstance  so 
terrified  David,  that,  lest  a  similar  calamity  should  befall 
himself,  he  caused  the  Ark  to  be  immediately  conveyed  to 
the  house  of  Obed-edom,  a  pious  Levite,  with  whom  it  re- 
mained three  months.  At  the  expiration  of  that  time, 
David  had  the  Ark  borne  in  the  most  solemn  manner, 
upon  the  shoulders  of  the  priests,  to  the  sacred  place 
allotted  for  it  in  his  new  city ;  and  at  the  head  of  the 
procession  he  himself  marched,  clad  in  a  linen  ephod,  and 
dancing  in  the  most  joyful  manner,  to  the  music  of  his 
own  harp. 

Having  thus  brought  the  Ark  to  the  royal  city,  and  se- 
cured the  Divine  presence — the  glorious  Shechinah— David 
appointed  the  priests  and  Levites  to  their  respective  offices, 
and  greatly  increased  in  splendor  the  public  worship  of  the 
Tabernacle.  Henceforth  Jerusalem  was  to  be  not  only 
the  royal,  but  the  sacred  city — "  beautiful  for  situation,  the 
joy  of  the  whole  earth."  There  the  solemn  feasts  were 
to  be  celebrated;  thither  the  tribes  were  constantly  to 
repair ;  and  there  God  was  to  dwell  between  the  Cheru- 
bim, and  thence  shine  forth  to  bless  and  save  his  people. 

In  the  midst  of  the  joy  and  exultation  which  naturally 
attended  the  removal  of  the  Tabernacle  and  the  Ark  of  the 


THE     KINGS.  209 

Covenant  to  Jerusalem,  David  was  led  to  reflect  that,  while 
he  himself  dwelt  in  a  cedar  palace,  the  symbol  of  the  Di- 
vine presence  had  no  other  protection  or  defense  than  the 
suspended  curtains ;  and  he,  therefore,  moved  by  a  recol 
lection  of  the  past  mercies  of  the  Almighty  towards  him, 
and  his  present  repose  and  quiet  from  his  enemies,  resolved 
to  build  a  house  to  the  Lord,  which  should  far  surpass  in 
splendor  his  own  palace.  Under  the  influence  of  these 
feelings,  he  addressed  himself  to  the  prophet  Nathan,  say- 
ing :  "  See  now,  I  dwell  in  a  house  of  cedar,  but  the  Ark 
of  God  dwelleth  within  curtains."  Perceiving  the  pure 
and  elevated  motives  of  the  king,  and  approving  of  his 
pious  design,  Nathan  immediately  replied :  "  Go,  do  all 
that  is  in  thine  heart :  for  God  is  with  thee ;"  but  on  the 
same  night  the  Almighty  communicated  to  the  prophet 
that  it  was  His  will  that  the  honor  of  building  a  house  for 
Divine  worship  should  be  reserved  for  the  king's  son  and 
successor  on  the  throne.  He,  therefore,  through  the 
prophet,  said  to  David,  "  When  thy  days  be  fulfilled, 
and  thou  shalt  sleep  with  thy  fathers,  I  will  set  up  thy 
seed  after  thee,  which  shall  be  of  thy  sons,  and  I  will 
establish  thy  kingdom.  He  shall  build  a  house  for  my 
name,  and  I  will  stablish  the  throne  of  his  kingdom  for- 
ever. I  will  be  his  Father,  and  he  shall  be  my  Son." 
David  no  sooner  received  this  gracious  communication 
from  God,  than  he  repaired  to  the  Tabernacle,  and  there 
poured  forth  his  gratitude  in  expressions  of  the  most 
unfeigned  devotion,  closing  his  prayer  with  the  fervent 
request:  "And  with  thy  blessing  let  the  house  of  thy 
servant  be  blessed  forever." 

David  being  thus  assured  of  the  permanence  of  his  king- 
dom, and  of  the  peaceful  succession  of  one  of  his  sons  to 
the  throne  ;  and  also  that  his  successor  should  build  the 
Temple  to  the  Almighty,  the  building  of  which  he  himself 


210  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

had  contemplated,  now  turned  his  attention  towards  the 
reduction  of  such  of  the  surrounding  nations  as  might  be 
most  likely  to  interrupt  the  effecting  of  this  great  pur- 
pose. The  first  of  these  nations  against  which  he  directed 
his  arms  was  the  Philistines — those  inveterate  and  sleep- 
less enemies  of  Israel ;  and  over  that  haughty  foe  his 
triumph  was  so  complete  that  '"' they  troubled  not  Israel 
again  for  more  than  thirty  years."  David's  lenity  towards 
the  Philistines  may,  however,  have  been  the  chief  cause  of 
the  peacefulness  of  their  conduct  for  so  great  a  length  of 
time ;  for,  though  he  reduced  them  to  a  tributary  state,  he 
still  left  one  of  their  own  native  princes  to  govern  them. 

The  war  with  the  Philistines  was  soon  followed  by  one 
of  a  much'  more  serious  nature,  against  the  Moabites.  In 
this  contest  he  was,  however,  eventually  entirely  success- 
ful ;  and  after  having  dismantled  all  their  strong  places,  he 
slew  the  greater  part  of  the  inhabitants,  reserving  such 
only  as  were  to  till  the  soil.  The  unusual  severity  which 
characterized  this  war,  was  partly  attributable  to  a  con^ 
spiracy  into  which  the  Moabites  had  entered,  to  check  the 
rishig  power  of  the  Israelites  and  their  king.  /.^  liy^A. 

The  Moabites  were  scarcely  subdued,  before  David  found 
himself  involved  in  a  war  with  a  much  more  powerful  na- 
tion. Hadadezer,  king  of  Zobah,  invaded  the  eastern  part 
of  David's  dominions,  under  the  pretext  of  recovering  that 
part  of  his  own  kingdom  which  bordered  upon  the  river 
Euphrates.  As,  however,  the  country  "svhich  the  king  of 
Zobah  invaded  was  a  part  of  the  promised  land,  David 
immediately  maj'ched  against  him ;  and  in  the  battle  which 
followed,  Hadadezer  was  so  completely  routed  that  David 
took  "  from  him  a  thousand  chariots,  and  seven  hundi'ed 
horsemen,  and  twenty  thousand  footmen."  After  this 
signal  defeat  Hadadezer  invited  the  Syrians  of  Damascus 
to  aid  him ;  but,  unable  to  resist  the  victorious  Israelites, 


THE     KINGS.  211 

tlneir  united  forces  were  soon  defeated  with  prodigious 
slaughter.  David  improved  this  second  victory  by  marching 
immediately  into  the  heart  of  the  enemy's  country,  placing 
garrisons  in  their  principal  cities,  and  reducing  the  nations 
to  the  condition  of  tributaries.  "  And  the  Lord  preserved 
David  whithersoever  he  went." 

From  these  brilliant  triumphs  over  the  king  of  Zobah 
and  the  Syrians,  David  returned  to  Jerusalem  with  immense 
spoils ;  and  as  one  of  the  immediate  consequences  of  the 
war  had  been  the  relief  of  Toi,  king  of  Hamath,  from  the 
oppressions  of  Hadadezer,  that  monarch,  as  a  grateful  return 
for  so  signal  a  favor,  sent  David  a  large  present  in  silver 
and  gold.  All  these  treasures,  with  whatever  other  wealth 
he  obtained  in  the  course  of  these  wars,  the  king  of  Israel 
sacredly  dedicated  to  the  Lord,  and  reserved  them  for  the 
building  of  the  future  Temple. 

While  David  was  thus  engaged  at  the  north  in  the  war 
with  the  Syrians,  the  Edomites,  regarding  the  king's  ab- 
sence from  Jerusalem  as  a  favorable  opportunity  for 
invading  the  land  of  Israel,  treacherously  entered  that 
country  from  the  south.  David,  as  soon  as  he  received 
intelligence  of  this  new  and  unprovoked  attack  upon  his 
dominions,  placed  a  part  of  his  army  under  the  command  of 
Joab,  and  dispatched  him  southward  to  encounter  the  foe. 
After  a  forced  march  through  the  whole  length  of  the  land 
of  Judah,  Joab  came  up  with  the  Edomites  in  the  valley 
of  Salt,  south  of  the  Dead  Sea,  and  soon  gained  a  com- 
plete victory  over  them.  The  Edomites,  in  this  battle, 
were  so  entirely  subdued  that  all  their  principal  cities  re- 
ceived Israelitish  garrisons,  and  the  whole  country  was 
made  tributary  to  David. 

During  the  interval  of  peace  which  followed  the  late 
wars,  David  reduced  his  government,  both  civil  and  mili- 
tary, to  a  systematic  organization.     His  council  of  state 


'^12  THE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

consisted  of  Jonathan  his  uncle,  Ahithophel,  Abiathar, 
Jehoiada,  and  Hiishai,  his  faithful  friend  and  companion. 
Seraiah  was  secretary  of  state,  and  Jehoshaphat  recorder , 
Zadok  and  Ahimelech,  the  sons  of  Abiathar,  were  the 
chief  priests,  and  the  king's  own  sons  his  prime  ministers. 
For  the  equal  administration  of  justice  amongst  the  differ- 
ent tribes  of  the  people,  over  each  tribe  was  placed  a  par- 
ticular ruler,  whose  duty  it  was  to  attend  to  their  civil 
affairs,  and  who  was  responsible  for  his  conduct  to  the 
king  alone. 

David's  standing  army  consisted  of  two  hundred  and 
eighty-eight  thousand  men,  all  of  whom  were  to  be  in 
readiness  for  the  king's  service  at  a  moment's  warning ; 
but  in  order  to  relieve  the  country  from  the  burthen  of  sup- 
porting so  large  a  force,  and  to  make  the  duty  of  the  sol- 
diers, in  times  of  peace,  as  light  as  possible,  he  arranged 
thera  in  twelve  divisions  of  twenty-four  thousand  each, 
and  required  the  active  service  of  but  one  division  at  -a 
time.  By  this  means  the  soldiers  were,  under  ordinary 
circumstances,  on  duty  only  one  month  out  of  the  year ; 
so  that  eleven  months  of  their  time  were  still  left  to  them 
to  attend  to  the  cultivation  of  their  grounds,  and  their 
other  private  matters.  Each  of  these  divisions  was  com- 
manded, in  ordinary  circumstances,  by  its  own  general ; 
but  when  the  whole  body  of  the  army  was  in  requisition, 
or  even  any  number  of  the  divisions  of  it,  Joab  was  com- 
mander-in-chief, and,  in  the  absence  of  the  king,  solely 
directed  its  operations.  Of  the  king's  body-guard,  the 
command  was  given  to  Benaiah,  one  of  his  earliest  and 
most  devoted  associates  in  arms. 

The  tumult  and  strife  of  war  being  now  comparatively 
over,  and  the  civil  and  military  arrangements  of  the  king- 
dom settled,  David's  mind,  in  the  repose  that  followed, 
naturally  turned   towards  the   wonderful    events   of   the 


THE     KINGS.  213 

earlier  part  of  his  life,  and  the  extraordinary  process  by 
which  the  Almighty  had  brought  him  to  his  present  exalted 
position.  Among  those  events,  his  relation  to  the  family 
of  Saul  occupied  the  most  conspicuous  place;  and  now 
that  he  was  firmly  seated  on  the  throne,  and  his  kingdom 
established,  he  recollected  the  solemn  league  of  friendship 
into  which  he,  in  the  darkest  hours  of  his  life,  had  entered 
with  Saul's  son  Jonathan.  His  first  inquiry,  therefore, 
was,  "  Is  there  yet  any  of  the  house  of  Saul,  that  I  may 
shew  him  kindness  for  Jonathan's  sake?"  This  inquiry 
immediately  brought  into  the  king's  presence  Ziba,  an  old 
servant  of  Saul ;  and  as  soon  as  David  l)eheld  him,  he  re- 
peated the  question  with  increased  emphasis,  saying :  "  Is 
there  not  yet  any  of  the  house  of  Saul,  that  I  may  shew 
the  kindness  of  God — the  highest  possible  of  favor— unto 
himf 

In  answer  to  this  earnest  inquiry,  Ziba  informed  the 
king  that  Jonathan  "  had  yet  a  son  living,  who  was  lame 
in  his  feet."  David  had  no  sooner  received  this  grateful 
intelligence,  than  he  ordered  Mephibosheth,  the  surviving 
son  of  Jonathan,  alluded  to  by  Ziba,  to  be  brought  to  Je- 
rusalem ;  and,  when  the  young  prince  was  introduced  into 
his  presence,  he  addressed  him  in  tones  of  the  warmest 
aflfection,  saying  to  him,  "  Fear  not,  for  I  will  surely  shew 
thee  kindness,  for  Jonathan  thy  father's  sake,  and  will  re- 
store thee  all  the  land  of  Saul  thy  fcither,  and  thou  shalt 
eat  bread  continually  at  my  table."  The  former  heritage 
of  Saul  was  accordingly  placed  under  the  control  of  Ziba, 
as  steward  of  Mephibosheth,  whilst  the  heir  of  the  house 
of  Saul  dwelt  at  court,  "  and  eat  at  the  king's  table,  as  one 
of  the  king's  sons."  This  act  of  generosity  on  the  part  of 
David  towards  the  last  member  of  the  house  of  his  fallen 
rival,  was  truly  princely,  and  afi"ords  another  instance,  in  ad- 
dition to  those  already  adduced,  of  the  strength  and  purity 


214  THE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

of  his  friendship  for  his  beloved  Jonathan— a  friendship  as 
rare  as  it  was  beautiful  and  enduring. 

The  peace  and  prosperity  which  followed,  for  some  time, 
this  noble  act  of  generosity  on  the  part  of  David,  were,  at 
length,  suddenly  interrupted  by  a  strange  and  most  unpro- 
voked insult  from  the  Ammonites.  Nahash,  their  late  king, 
and  the  friend  and  former  protector  of  David,  dying,  was 
succeeded  by  his  son  Hanan ;  and  when  David  received  in- 
tellio-ence  of  these  events,  he  sent  an  embassy  to  the  young 
king,  to  condole  with  him  on  account  of  his  father's  death, 
and  to  congratulate  him  on  his  own  accession  to  the 
throne ;  saying,  to  his  courtiers,  '^'  I  will  shew  kindness 
unto  Hanun,  the  son  of  Nahash,  as  his  father  shewed  kind- 
ness to  me."  But  the  counsellors  of  Hanun,  strangely  mis 
iuterpretingtheintention  of  David  in  sending  these  ambas- 
sadors, represented  them  to  him  as  spies  come  to  discover 
the  weakness  of  the  city,  and  to  ascertain  in  what  direction 
it  might  be  most  successfully  attacked.  Under  the  influ- 
ence of  this  representation,  Hanun  took  the  servants  of 
David,  "  and  shaved  off  the  one-half  of  their  beards,  and 
cut  oft^  their  garments  in  the  middle  ;"  and,  thus  disgraced, 
sent  them  back  to  their  own  country. 

David  was  no  sooner  informed  of  the  indignity  that  had 
been  heaped  upon  his  ambassadors  by  Hanun,  than  he  re- 
solved to  resent  the  insult.  He,  therefore,  when  he  heard 
of  their  approach,  sent  word  to  them  to  retire  to  the  city 
of  Jericho,  and  there  remain  till  their  beards  were  grown ; 
and  then  dispatched  Joab,  at  the  head  of  a  powerful  army, 
to  '"nflict  such  punishment  upon  the  Ammonites  and  their 
king,  as  the  baseness  of  their  conduct  deserved.  The 
Ammonites,  aware  of  the  strength  of  David's  army,  and  of 
the  height  to  which  they  had  roused  his  resentment,  called 
to  their  aid  thirty-three  thousand  Syrian  mercenaries,  whom 
they  encamped  in  an  adjacent  field,  whilst  they  drew  uj) 


THE     KINGS.  •  215 

their  own  forces  under  the  walls  of  Kabbah^  their  capital 
city.  With  this  disposition  of  the  enemy's  armies,  Joab 
was  well  pleased,  as  it  atlbrded  him  an  opportunity  of  at- 
tacking them  with  greater  advantage  than  though  they 
had  been  all  united.  He,  accordingly,  selected  the  choicest 
of  his  troops,  and  placed  them  under  his  own  command  in 
array  against  the  Syrians ;  whilst  he  arrayed  the  rest  of  his 
army,  under  the  command  of  his  brother  Abishai,  against 
the  Ammonites.  When  all  things  were  in  readiness  for 
action,  Joab  said  to  Abishai,  "  K  the  Syrians  be  too  strong 
for  me,  then  thou  shalt  help  me ;  but  if  the  children  of 
Ammon  be  too  strong  for  thee,  then  I  will  come  and  help 
thee.  Be  of  good  courage,  and  let  us  play  the  men,  for 
our  people,  and  for  the  cities  of  our  God,  and  the  Lord  do 
that  which  seemeth  him  good." 

These  arrangements  being  made,  Joab  immediately  ad- 
vanced against  the  Syrians ;  and  the  attack  upon  their  lines 
was  conducted  with  such  impetuous  courage,  that  they  at 
once  gave  way  and  fled,  leaving  a  great  part  of  their  number 
dead  upon  the  field  of  battle.  The  sight  of  the  overthrow 
of  their  Syrian  allies  so  dispirited  the  Ammonites,  that  they 
immediately  left  their  camp  and  retreated  into  the  city ; 
and,  as  the  season  for  military  operations  was  then  too  far 
advanced  to  lay  siege  to  the  place,  Joab  returned,  with  his 
victorious  army,  to  Jerusalem. 

A  part  of  the  Syrian  forces  which  had  joined  the  Am- 
monites in  the  last  campaign,  belonged  to  the  army  of 
Hadadezer ;  and,  as  that  monarch  well  knew  that  David 
would  resent  such  treachery,  he  resolved  to  anticipate  his 
action.  He,  therefore,  levied  a  large  army,  placed  it  under 
the  command  of  Shobach,  his  general,  who,  at  its  head, 
immediately  crossed  the  river  Jordan,  and  advanced  as  far 
as  Halam,  a  city  situated  on  the  borders  of  the  half  tribe  of 
Manasseh.    When  David  received  intelligence  of  this  inva- 


216  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

sion  of  his  domains,  he  lost  no  time  in  marching  against  the 
enemy  ;  and,  coming  up  to  them  suddenly  and  unexpectedly, 
he  attacked  them  with  such  vigor,  that,  in  the  action,  more 
than  forty  thousand  of  the  Syrians  were  slain,  and  their 
general,  Shobach,  receiving  a  mortal  wound,  died  upon  the 
lield  of  battle.  This  overthrow  of  the  army  of  Hadadezer 
was  attended  with  important  consequences ;  for  many  of 
the  petty  princes  of  the  surrounding  country  now  threw 
off  their  allegiance  to  him,  and  became .  tributary  to  Da- 
vid, leaving  Hadadezer,  thus  forsaken,  entirely  at  the  mercy 
of  the  king  of  Israel. 

After  this  signal  victory  over  the  Syrians,  David  returned 
to  Jerusalem ;  and,  at  the  opening  of  the  following  spring, 
he  sent  Joab,  with  a  powerful  army,  against  the  Ammon- 
ites. Joab  was  so  remarkably  successful  in  this  campaign 
that  he  triumphed  in  every  action,  and  soon  laid  siege  to 
Eabbah,  the  capital  of  the  country.  After  a  long,  but, 
finally,  successful  siege,  he  reduced  the  city  to  the  last  ex- 
tremity, and  sent  messengers  to  David,  saying,  "  I  have 
fought  against  Kabbah,  and  have  taken  the  city  of  waters. 
Now,  therefore,  come  with  the  rest  of  the  people,  and 
encamp  against  the  city,  and  take  it,  lest  I  take  the  city, 
and  it  be  called  after  my  name.  And  David  gathered  the 
people,  and  went  and  took  Eabbah ;  and  took  the  crown 
of  the  king,  the  weight  whereof  was  a  talent  of  gold,  with 
the  precious  stones ;  and  the  spoil  of  the  city  in  great 
abundance.  And  he  brought  forth  the  people  that  were 
therein,  and  put  them  under  saws,  and  under  harrows  of 
iron,  and  under  axes  of  iron,  and  made  them  pass  through 
the  brickkiln" — that  is,  he  reduced  them  all  to  slavery. 
With  this  triumph  over  the  Ammonitec,  ended  the  glory 
of  the  earthly  career  of  David ;  for  the  remaining  twenty 
years  of  his  life  were  as  gloomy  as  any  part  of  its  past 
period  had  been  splendid. 


THE     KINGS.  217 

SECTION    V. 

David's  Fall — His  attempt  to  conceal  his  Sin — Reproof  of  the  Prophet 
Nathan — David's  Contrition  and  Repentance — Birth  of  Solomon — 
Incest  of  Amnon — Revenge  of  Absalom — His  Reconciliation  with  his 
Father— His  Revolt — David's  Flight  from  Jerusalem — Victory  of 
Joab  and  Death  of  Absalom — David  restored  to  his  Throne — Insur 
rection  of  Sheba. 

We  have  hitherto  contemplated  the  character  and  career 
of  David  with  almost  unmingled  satisfaction ;  for  through 
all  the  varied  scenes  of  that  part  of  his  chequered  and 
eventful  life  over  which  we  have  now  passed,  he  sustained, 
in  an  eminent  degree,  the  testimony  of  the  Almighty  him- 
self concerning  him,  that  he  was  "  A  man  after  God's  own 
heart." 

David  was  not,  however,  perfect ;  and,  therefore,  being 
exposed  to  strong  temptation,  he  fell ;  and  by  an  act  of 
the  grossest  sin,  and  a  consequent  succession  of  transgres- 
sions of  all  law,  both  Divine  and  human,  he  brought  upon 
himself  and  his  beloved  people  a  train  of  evils  and  calami- 
ties, which  continued  to  follow  him  during  the  remainder  of 
his  life.  It  is  true  that,  by  unfeigned  repentance,  and  the 
deepest  penitence  for  his  aggravated  sin,  he  at  length 
obtained  personal  pardon;  but  the  fearful  retribution  of 
Divine  justice,  such  as  ever  attends  the  transgressions  of 
God's  own  children,  was  not  to  be  averted  by  any  humilia- 
tion or  sacrifice,  however  great.  The  melancholy  event  1o 
which  we  here  allude,  and  the  particulars  of  which  follow, 
occurred  in  1035,  A.  C.,  when  David  had  just  passed  the 
fiftieth  year  of  his  age. 

While  Joab  was  carrying  on  the  siege  of  Kabbah,  David 
remained  at  Jerusalem ;  and,  at  the  close  of  the  day,  as  he 
was  upon  the  roof  of  his  palace,  seeking  the  refreshing 
coolness  of  the  evening  breeze,  he  beheld  Bathsheba,  the 
grand-daughter  of  Ahithophel,  and  wife  of  Uriah  the  Hit- 
tite,  one  of  his  most  distinguished  oflScers,  and  at  that 
10 


218  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

very  time  with  Joab  at  the  siege  of  Kabbah,  bathing  in 
her  garden.  Iiitiuenced  by  the  guilty  passion  which  her 
surpassing  beauty  excited,  he  immeiiiately  sent  for  her, 
and  at  once  passed  all  the  restraints  both  of  conscience 
and  law.  The  fruits  of  his  wicked  act  soon  became  mani- 
fest ;  and  when  Bathsheba  informed  him  of  her  situation, 
David,  in  order,  if  possible,  to  conceal  his  guilt,  feigned  a 
pretext  for  sending  for  Uriah  from  the  camp ;  and  itfter 
some  general  inquiries  concerning  the  state  of  the  siege 
and  the  condition  o(  the  army,  he  dismissed  him  to  his 
own  house,  there  to  await  his  orders  to  return  to  the  army. 
But  the  brave  soldier,  inured  to  the  hardships  of  the  field, 
instead  of  going  to  his  home  spent  the  night  with  the 
guards  of  the  royal  palace.  When  David,  on  the  follow- 
ing morning,  learned  how  Uriah  had  passed  the  night,  he 
became  greatly  alarme<.l ;  and  he,  therefore,  immediately 
sent  for  him  and  inquired  what  %\iis  the  cause  of  so  extra- 
ordinary conduct ;  to  which  UriiUi  calmly  replied,  **  The 
Ark,  and  Israel,  and  Judah  abide  in  tents,  and  my  lord 
Joab,  and  the  servants  of  my  lord  are  encamped  in  the 
open  field ;  shall  I  then  go  into  mine  house,  to  eat,  and  to 
drink,  and  to  lie  ^^ith  my  wife?  As  thou  livest,  and  thy 
soul  liveth,  I  will  not  do  this  thing." 

Foiled,  in  this  manner,  in  the  plan  thus  cunningly  de- 
Tiscd  for  concealing  his  sin,  David  now  invited  Uriah  to 
remain  with  him  till  the  following  day;  and  he  then 
stooped  to  an  act  of  baseness  almost  inconceivable :  he 
even  descended  to  the  familiarity  of  tlriuking  with  him  in 
the  royjil  palace,  and  at  the  royal  table,  till  he  had  made 
him  drunk ;  hoping  that,  when  fiusheii  with  wine,  he  would 
naturally  do  that  whiv.^  he  could  not  be  prevaileil  upon  to 
do  when  he  was  sober.  But  drunk  or  sober,  Uriah  was 
the  same  thorough  soldier;  and  he,  therefore,  still  con- 
tinued to  abide  with  the  king's  guards^ 


THE   kings;  219 

Each  of  these  attempts  to  conceal  his  sin  having  thus 
signally  failed,  the  unhappy  king  saw  now  no  other  resource 
than  to  plunge  still  more  deeply  into  crime.  He,  there- 
fore, resolved  that  Uriah  should  die ;  and,  in  order  that  no 
public  suspicion  might  rest  upon  himself,  he  sent  him  back 
to  the  camp,  bearing  a  letter  to  Joab  containing  the  fol- 
lowing order : — Set  ye  Uriah  in  the  forefront  of  the  hottest 
battle,  and  retire  ye  from  him  that  he^viay  he  snnitten  and  die.** 
This  order  to  Joab  was  but  too  faithfully  fultilled :  Uriah 
fell :  the  monarch  was  freed  from  present  danger ;  and 
after  Bathsheba  had  observed  the  usual  days  of  mourning 
for  her  husband,  David  publicly  espoused  her,  and  she 
thus  became  his  lawful  wife  and  bare  him  a  son. 

The  most  remarkable  circumstance  in  connection  with 
these  wicked  transactions  is,  that  David  himself  seems, 
throughout  the  whole  affair,  to  have  been  entirely  uncon- 
scious of  the  enormity  of  his  guilt.  No  remorse  is  felt ; 
no  confession  is  made,  and  no  prayer  for  mercy  is  heard. 
But  though  sin  had  thus,  for  a  time,  stuj)ified  his  con- 
science, and  concealed  from  his  own  view  his  gieat  crime, 
yet  the  sleepless  eye  of  the  Almighty  was  upon  him;  "and 
the  thing  that  David  had  done  was  evil  in  the  eyes  of  the 
Lord."  God,  therefore,  appeared  to  the  prophet  Nathan, 
and  commissioned  him  to  go  to  the  king,  spread  before  him 
the  whole  extent  of  his  offense,  and  announce  the  dread- 
ful punishment  which  he  had  thus  wickedly  brought  upon 
liimself  and  his  kingdom.  Nathan,  who  was  a  wise  and 
prudent  man,  did  not,  however,  break  the  subject  to  his 
sovereign  abruptly;  but,  by  relating  to  him  thefollowing 
fable,  artfully  led  David  to  pronounce  judgment  upon  him- 
self. 

"  There  were,"  said  Nathan,  "  two  men  in  one  city ;  the 
one  rich,  and  the  other  poor.  The  rich  man  had  exceed- 
ing many  flocks  and  herds,  but  the  poor  man  had  nothing 


220  THE     ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

save  one  little  ewe-lamb,  whicli  he  had  bought  and  nour- 
ished up ;  and  it  grew  up  together  with  him,  and  with  his 
children  ;  it  did  eat  of  his  own  meat,  and  drank  of  his  own 
cup,  and  lay  in  his  bosom,  and  was  unto  him  as  a  daugh- 
ter. And  there  came  a  traveller  unto  the  rich  man,  and 
he  spared  to  take  of  liis  own  flock,  and  of  his  own  herd,  to 
dress  for  the  wayfaring  man  that  was  come  unto  him,  but 
took  the  poor  man's  lamb,  and  dressed  it  for  the  man  that 
was  come  unto  him."  Nathan  had  no  sooner  closed  this 
simple  narrative  than  David,  fired  with  resentment,  ex- 
claimed, "  As  the  Lord  liveth,  the  man  that  has  done  this 
thing  shall  surely  die,  and  shall  restore  the  lamb  fourfold." 
The  king  being  thus  prepared  to  receive  the  sentence  the 
prophet  had  been  commissioned  by  the  Almighty  to  pro- 
nounce upon  him,  "  Nathan  said  unto  David,  Thou  art  the 
Man.  Thus  saith  the  Lord  God  of  Israel,  I  anointed  thee 
king  over  Israel;  and  delivered  thee  from  the  hand  of 
Saul ;  and  I  gave  thee  thy  master's  house,  and  thy  mas- 
ter's wives,  and  the  house  of  Israel  and  Judah ;  and  if 
that  had  been  too  little,  I  would  moreover  have  given  thee 
such  and  such  things.  Wherefore  hast  thou  despised  the 
commandments  of  the  Lord,  to  do  evil  in  his  sight '?  Thou 
hast  killed  Uriah,  and  hast  taken  his  wife  for  thy  wife. 
Now,  therefore,  the  sword  shall  never  depart  from  thy  house. 
Thus  saith  the  Lord,  Behold,  I  will  raise  up  evil  against 
thee,  out  of  thine  own  house,  and  I  will  take  thy  wives  be- 
fore thine  eyes,  and  give  them  to  thy  neighbor,  for  thou  didst 
it  secretly ;  but  I  will  do  this  thing  before  all  Israel." 

This  fearful  sentence  had  the  desired  effect.  David's 
conscience  was  roused  from  its  slumbers  :  he  was  at  once 
convicted  of  his  sin  ;  and  like  every  other  true  penitent,  he 
confessed  his  transgression  without  extenuation  or  excuse. 
*•  I  have  sinned,"  said  he,  "  against  the  Lord ;"  and  then 
proceeded,  with  a  broken  and  contrite  heart,  to  make  that 


THE     KINGS.  ■    221 

Bolemn  and  affecting  record  of  his  confession  which  is  con- 
tained in  the  Fifty-first  Psalm.  This  ingenuous  confession, 
and  the  deep  penitence  which  attended  it,  were  grateful  to 
the  Almighty ;  and  he  therefore  directed  Nathan  to  pro- 
nounce, in  the  following  terms,  the  king's  pardon : — "  The 
Lord  also  hath  put  away  thy  sin :  thou  shalt  not  die.  But 
since,  by  this  deed,  thou  hast  given  great  occasion  to  the 
enemies  of  the  Lord  to  blaspheme,  the  child  that  is  born 
unto  thee  shall  surely  die." 

The  child,  in  accordance  with  this  declaration  of  the 
prophet,  was  immediately  taken  ill ;  and  though  David 
"  humbled  himself,  fasted  and  besought  God  for  the  child," 
yet,  on  the  seventh  day  after  the  commencement  of  its  ill- 
ness, it  died.  During  the  illness  of  the  child  David  refused 
all  sustenance,  and  lay  upon  the  ground  in  deep  distress ; 
but  when  he  perceived  that  it  was  dead,  "  he  rose  from  the 
earth,  anointed  himself,  and  went  into  the  house  of  the 
Lord  and  worshipped,  and  came  to  his  house  and  took  the 
food  offered  him."  Surprised  at  this  conduct,  the  elders 
of  David's  household  asked  him  the  cause  of  it ;  and  the 
king  replied,  "  While  the  child  was  yet  alive,  I  fasted  and 
wept ;  for  I  said,  who  can  tell  whether  God  will  be  gracious 
to  me,  that  the  child  may  live?  But  now  he  is  dead, 
wherefore  should  I  fast?  Can  I  bring  him  back  again? 
I  shall  go  to  him,  but  he  shall  not  return  to  me." 

The  death  of  Bathsheba's  first-born  son  was  soon  fol- 
lowed by  the  birth  of  another,  whom  David  named  Solo- 
mon, which  signifies  Peaceful;  but  by  the  prophet  Nathan, 
to  whose  care  he  was  early  committed,  he  was  called  Jede- 
diah,  or  Favored  of  the  Lord.  The  birth  of  Solomon 
occurred  in  1033  A.  C. 

At  the  time  of  David's  melancholy  fall,  the  Hebrew 
kingdom  had  attained  the  height  of  its  splendor.  He 
was  the  greatest  and  best  of  its  monarchs,  and  his  reign 


222  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

had  hitherto  been  prosperous,  almost  beyond  a  parallel: 
but  his  star  was  now  fast  sinking  in  the  horizon,  and  from 
this  time  forward  it  is  to  be  darkened  by  the  cloud  of 
"  domestic  shame,  misery,  and  confusion." 

The  loss  of  the  child,  the  particulars  of  which  we  have 
just  given,  was  soon  followed  by  a  much  heavier  stroke 
of  domestic  calamity.  Amnon,  his  eldest  son,  conceived 
a  most  violent  passion  for  his  half-sister  Tamar,  the  king's 
only  daughter;  and,  in  order  to  gain  possession  of  her 
person,  he,  by  the  advice  of  his  cousin  Jonadab,  feigned 
sickness,  and  then  requested  of  his  father  that  his  sister 
might  be  allowed  to  attend  upon  him,  and  prepare,  with 
her  own  hands,  such  nourishment  as  he  should  require. 
The  king,  not  suspecting  any  evil,  readily  granted  his 
son's  request ;  but  the  innocent  and  helpless  Tamar  no 
sooner  entered  the  chamber  of  the  brutal  Amnon,  than  he 
seized  her  person,  sated  his  beastly  passion,  and  then  vio- 
lently thrust  her  forth  from  his  presence,  to  bear  in  sorrow 
her  shame.  In  lamentation  and  the  deepest  anguish,  Tamar 
hastened  to  the  house  of  her  own  brother  Absalom,  and 
there  revealed  to  him  all  that  had  transpired.  Absalom, 
upon  hearing  his  sister's  sad  story,  at  once  resolved  upon 
seeking  such  revenge  as  the  unheard  of  outrage  demanded ; 
and,  in  order  the  more  certainly  to  effect  his  purpose,  he 
desired  Tamar  to  remain,  for  the  present,  an  inmate  of  his 
house,  and  patiently  bear  the  injury  she  had  received,  until 
the  time  of  retribution  should  arrive.   " 

A  report  of  this  gross  and  unnatural  crime  soon  reached 
the  ears  of  the  king ;  but,  for  some  reason — perhaps  the 
remembrance  of  his  own  sin — David  seems  to  have  taken 
no  farther  notice  of  the  offense  or  the  offender,  than  to 
exclude  him  from  attendance  at  court.  In  this  way  two 
tedious  years  passed,  during  the  whole  of  which  the  pas- 
sion of  revenge  lay  smouldering  in  Absalom's  heart;  but, 


THE     KINGS.  223 

though  retribution  was  so  long  delayed,  it  was  still  certain 
eventually  to  come.  The  period  of  the  feast  of  sheep- 
shearing  was  now  at  hand ;  and  Absalom  resolved  to  em- 
brace this  occasion  for  executing  the  dreadful  purpose  over 
which  his  mind  had  been  so  long  brooding.  With  this 
view  he  announced  his  intention  of  holding  the  great  fes- 
tival at  his  estate  near  Ephraim ;  and,  in  order  to  add  to 
the  dignity  and  importance  of  the  occasion,  he  requested 
his  father  and  all  his  brethren  to  honor  him  with  thjeir  pre- 
sence. This  invitation  was  declined  by  the  king,  and  it 
was  with  great  reluctance  that  he  allowed  Amnon  to 
attend ;  but  still,  on  the  departure  of  Absalom  from  Jeru- 
salem, David  blessed  him,  and  wished  him  prosperity. 

With  his  father's  benediction  and  blessing  resting  upon 
him,  Absalom  immediately  repaired  to  the  scene  of  the 
intended  feast ;  and  he  was  there  joined  by  all  the  king's 
family  excepting  Tamar,  who  still  remained  at  home  be- 
wailing her  unhappy  lot.  To  effect  the  dreadful  purpose 
of  his  revenge  the  more  surely,  Absalom  had  given  strict 
orders  to  his  servants  to  fall  upon  Amnon  in  the  midst  of 
the  feast  and  put  him  to  death  ;  assuring  them  that,  as  they 
would  act  by  his  directions,  he  would  protect  them — say- 
ing, "  Have  not  I  commanded  you :  be  courageous  and 
valiant."  The  servants  of  Absalom  did  as  they  were  com- 
manded :  Amnon  fell  by  their  hands ;  and  the  rest  of  the 
king's  sons,  as  soon  as  they  saw  what  had  been  done,  rose 
from  the  table  and  fled  to  Jerusalem.  When  David 
received  intelligence  of  the  awful  scene  that  had  been 
enacted  at  the  feast,  he,  in  the  anguish  of  his  spirit, 
"  arose  from  his  seat,  tore  his  garments,  and  lay  upon  the 
earth." 

Thus  the  sin  of  which  Amnon  had  been  guilty  in  his 
cruel  treatment  of  his  sister  Tamar,  became  the  cause  of 
bis  own  death ;  and  so  it  often  happens,  under  the  righteous 


224  THE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

providence  of  God,  that  one  sin  is  made  the  punishment 
of  another.  In  the  assassination  of  Amnon,  David  him- 
self could  not  fail  to  see  another  just  retaliation  of  the 
Almighty  upon  his  own  aggravated  sin  in  the  murder  of 
Uriah ;  and  the  fresh  recollection  of  that  foul  deed,  must 
have  greatly  enhanced  the  bitterness  of  his  grief. 

Absalom,  immediately  after  the  murder  of  Amnon,  fled 
for  protection  to  the  court  of  his  grandfather  Talmai,  king 
of  Geshur,  and  there  remained  during  the  three  following 
years.  But  at  length  David,  as  his  grief  for  the  loss  of 
Amnon  gradually  wore  away,  began  to  long  for  the  return 
of  Absalom — who  was  now  his  oldest  son — to  Jerusalem. 
This  being  perceived  by  the  subtle  and  far-seeing  Joab,  he, 
by  an  artifice,  not  unlike,  in  its  tendency  and  effect  upon 
the  mind,  the  parable  of  the  ewe-lamb,  related  by  the 
prophet  Nathan  on  another  occasion,  obtained  the  king's 
consent  to  bring  Absalom  home  from  his  exile.  Joab, 
accordingly,  soon  after  repaired,  for  this  purpose,  to  Ge- 
shur, and  in  a  few  days  returned  with  Absalom  to  Jerusa- 
lem ;  but  two  full  years  elapsed  after  his  restoration,  before 
David  would  consent  to  see  his  face.  At  length,  however, 
the  king  consented  that  Absalom  should  be  brought  into 
his  presence ;  and  when  Joab  called  for  him,  he  "  came  to 
the  king  and  bowed  himself  on  his  face  to  the  ground 
before  the  king;  and  the  king  kissed  Absalom." 

The  reconciliation  thus  artfully  brought  about  by  Joab 
between  Absalom  and  his  father,  placed  Absalom  in  a  posi- 
tion to  carry  into  effect  the  design  which  he  seems  to  have, 
for  some  time,  contemplated,  of  usurping  the  government 
of  the  kingdom.  He  was  the  oldest  living  son  of  the 
king,  and  the  apparent  heir  to  the  crown ;  but  the  glowing 
and  undisguised  affection  of  David  for  the  son  of  Bath- 
sheba,  the  care  bestowed  upon  his  education  by  the  prophet 
Nathan,  and  the  extraordinary  promise  of  Solomon  him- 


THE     KINGS.  225 

self,  who  had  now  reached  the  eighth  or  ninth  year  of  hia 
age,  left  no  doubt  upon  the  public  mind  that  the  king  de- 
signed him  for  his  successor.  These  evident  indications 
in  favor  of  Solomon,  led  Absalom  to  perceive  that  no  time 
was  now  to  be  lost,  if  he  expected  to  accomplish  his  pur- 
pose of  usurpation ;  and  he,  therefore,  availing  himself  of 
his  personal  accomplishments  and  winning  manners,  began 
at  once,  as  a  preliminary  step,  to  ingratiate  himself  into 
favor  with  the  people.  With  this  view,  "  he  stood  beside 
the  way  to  the  palace ;  and  it  was  so  that  when  any  man 
had  a  controversy,  and  came  to  the  king  for  judgment, 
Absalom  inquired  into  the  cause,  and  told  him,  '  See,  thy 
matters  are  good  and  right,  but  none  will  hear  thee  from 
the  king.'  " 

By  such  artful  insinuations  against  his  father's  govern- 
ment, and  by  the  indiscriminate  flattery  of  all  who  came  to 
court,  Absalom  "  stole  the  hearts  of  the  men  of  Israel," 
and  as  soon  as  he  thought  the  people  sufficiently  prepared 
for  rebellion,  he,  under  the  mask  of  piety,  requested  the 
king's  permission  to  go  to  the  sacred  city  of  Hebron  to 
pay  a  vow  which  he  had  made  during  his  exile.  David, 
not  suspecting  the  treason  contemplated,  and,  doubtless, 
pleased  with  his  son's  pious  purpose,  readily  granted  his 
request ;  and  Absalom,  therefore,  immediately  set  out  for 
Hebron,  accompanied  by  two  hundred  of  the  most  dis- 
tinguished citizens  of  Jerusalem,  from  all  of  whom  he  had, 
however,  carefully  concealed  his  design.  Before  his  de- 
parture for  Hebron  he  had  sent  spies  "  throughout  all  the 
tribes  of  Israel,"  with  a  message  to  the  chief  men  of  each 
tribe,  saying,  "  As  soon  as  you  shall  hear  the  sound  of 
the  trumpet,  ye  shall  say  Absalom  reigneth  in  Hebron." 

Amongst  other  distinguished  personages  who  followed 
Absalom  from  Jerusalem  to  Hebron,  was  Ahithophel, 
David's  chief  counsellor.  This  eminent  statesman,  it  wiU 
10* 


226  THE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

be  remembered,  Avas  the  grandfather  of  Bathsheba,  and  as 
he  was  evidently  privy  to  the  conspiracy  against  the  king 
from  its  incipiency,  we  may,  from  his  known  character, 
presume  that  he  was  prompted  to  take  part  with  Absalom 
in  retaliation  for  the  indelible  stain  which  David  had 
brought  upon  his  family.  Soon  after  he  arrived  at  Hebron, 
therefore,  he  united  with  the  party  of  Absalom  in  proclaim- 
ing him  king ;  and  as  his  fame  and  influence  were  very  great, 
he,  doubtless,  contributed,  in  no  small  degree,  towards  in- 
ducing the  people  to  flock  to  the  standard  of  Absalom  in 
such  numbers  that  "  the  conspiracy  was  strong." 

Intelligence  of  all  that  had  passed  at  Hebron  was  soon 
communicated  to  David  at  Jerusalem;  and  when  he 
learned  that  "  the  hearts  of  the  men  of  Israel  were  after 
Absalom,"  he  resolved  to  leave  the  city  at  once,  saying, 
*'  lest  Absalom  overtake  us  suddenly,  and  bring  evil  upon 
us,  and  smite  the  city  with  the  edge  of  the  sword."  As 
soon  as  the  resolution  of  the  king  to  leave  Jerusalem  be- 
came known,  all  who  still  remained  faithful  to  his  govern- 
ment prepared  to  accompany  him.  His  body  guard, 
composed  of  Cherethites,  Pelethites,  and  Gittites,  marched 
in  the  van;  and  when  David,  soon  after  their  departure 
from  the  city,  saw  Ittai,  the  leader  of  the  six  hundred 
Gittites  who  had  accompanied  him  from  Gath,  with  the 
rest,  he  entreated  him  to  return  to  Jerusalem,  assuring  him, 
that  being  a  stranger,  Absalom  would  not  molest  him. 
But  this  faithful  proselyte  to  the  faith  of  Israel,  and 
adherent  to  the  cause  of  the  king,  generously  replied,  "  As 
the  Lord  liveth,  and  as  my  lord,  the  king,  liveth,  surely 
in  what  place,  my  lord  the  king  shall  be,  whether  in  death 
or  in  life,  even  there  also  will  thy  servant  be." 

As  the  fugitive  king  and  his  faithful  followers  advanced 
towards  the  wilderness  by  the  way  of  the  brook  Kidron, 
the   spectacle   was  afiecting  in   the  extreme;    '-'And  all 


THE      KINGS.  227 

the  country  wept  with  a  loud  voice,  and  the  people 
passed  over:  the  king  himself  also  passed  over  the 
brook  Kidron,  towards  the  way  of  the  wilderness."  Soon 
after  David  had  entered  the  wilderness,  he  was  joined  by 
the  priests  Zadok  and  Abiathar,  attended  by  the  whole 
body  of  the  Levites,  "  bearing  the  Ark  of  the  covenant  of 
God;"  but  David  no  sooner  saw  the  Ark  than  he  directed 
the  priests  to  return  with  it  to  the  city ;  saying,  in  pious 
resignation  to  the  Divine  will,  "  If  I  shall  find  favor  in  the 
eyes  of  the  Lord,  he  will  bring  me  again  and  shew  me 
both  it  and  his  habitation ;  but  if  he  thus  say,  I  have  no 
delight  in  thee,  behold,  here  am  I,  let  him  do  to  me  as 
seemeth  good  unto  him."  The  Ark  of  God  was  accord- 
ingly carried  back  to  Jerusalem,  and  David  remained  in 
the  wilderness  until  he  received  intelligence  from  Zadok 
and  Abiathar,  who  continued  faithful  to  him  throughout 
his  exile,  of  all  that  was  passing  in  the  city. 

From  his  first  resting  place,  David  advanced  farther  into 
the  wilderness ;  and  as  he  ascended  mount  Olivet,  "  he 
wept  as  he  went  up,  and  had  his  head  covered,  and  he  went 
barefoot ;  and  all  the  people  that  were  with  him  covered 
every  man  his  head  and  went  up,  weeping  as  they  went." 
While  David  was  resting  upon  the  top  of  the  mountain  he 
was  informed  that  Ahithophel  had  joined  the  conspiracy 
against  him  ;  and  as  he  well  knew  that  the  counsel  of  that  dis- 
tinguished statesman  was  "  as  if  a  man  enquired  of  the  oracle 
of  God,"  he  immediately  lifted  up  his  voice  in  fervent  suppli- 
cation to  the  Almighty,  saying,  "  0  Lord,  turn  the  counsel 
of  Ahithophel  into  foolishness."  At  that  very  moment, 
and  as  though  in  answer  to  David's  prayer,  his  faithful 
friend  Hushai  joined  him ;  and  the  idea  at  once  occurred 
to  the  king  that  he  might  use  the  wisdom  and  address  of 
this  trusty  counsellor  to  defeat  the  wicked  purposes  of 
Ahithophel.     With  this  view  he  sent  him  back  to  Jerusa- 


228  THE     ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

lem,  but  directed  him  to  conceal  the  design  with  which  he 
had  returned. 

Hushai  had  scarcely  left  the  king,  before  Ziba,  the  stew- 
ard of  Mephibosheth,  arrived  at  the  royal  camp  with  a 
large  supply  of  provisions  for  David  and  his  followers. 
This  was  a  seasonable  and  timely  relief;  and  to  the  king's 
kind  inquiry  after  his  master,  Ziba  perfidiously  replied, 
"  He  abideth  at  Jerusalem ;  for  he  said,  To-day,  shall  the 
house  of  Israel  restore  the  kingdom  of  my  father."  This 
false  representation  of  the  conduct  of  Mephibosheth,  great- 
ly incensed  David  ;  and  he  therefore  revoked  the  grant  of 
lands  formerly  bestowed  upon,  as  he  supposed,  the  faith- 
less son  of  Jonathan,  and  bestowed  them  upon  his  more 
faithful  servant.  But  Ziba  had  intentionally  prevented 
Mephibosheth  from  following  David,  by  not  making  those 
preparations  for  him  which  the  lameness  of  the  young 
prince  unfitted  him  to  make  for  himself. 

While  the  friends  of  the  king  were  thus  succoring  and 
comforting  him,  his  enemies  were  not  idle.  Among  the 
most  conspicuous  of  the  latter,  was  "  Shimei,  the  son  of 
Gera,  of  the  family  of  Saul,  who  came  out  and  cursed  still 
as  he  came."  This  infuriated  man,  in  his  rage,  followed 
David  into  the  wilderness,  and  "  cast  stones  at  the  king, 
and  said,  Come  out,  thou  bloody  man,  thou  man  of  Belial ; 
the  Lord  hath  returned  upon  thee  the  blood  of  the  house  of 
Saul,  in  whose  stead  thou  hast  reigned."  Such  bitter  in- 
sults would  have  been  revenged  by  Abishai  and  the  other 
officers  who  surrounded  their  monarch's  person,  could  they 
have  obtained  his  permission,  by  the  instant  death  of  the 
oflender ;  but  David,  instead  of  seconding  their  just  indig- 
nation, meekly  replied,  "  If  my  son  seeketh  my  life,  how 
much  more  may  this  Benjamite  do  it?  Let  him  alone, 
and  let  him  curse,  for  the  Lord  hath  bidden  him.  It 
may  be  that  the  Lord  will  look  on  mine  aflliction,  and 


THE     KINGS.  229 

that  the  Lord  will  requite  me  good  for  his  cursing  this 
day." 

When  Hushai  arrived  at  Jerusalem  he  found  Absalom 
in  possession  of  the  city;  and  approaching  the  usurper,  he 
gave  him  the  usual  salutation  of  "  God  save  the  king." 
This  apparent  flattery  was  at  first  received  by  Absalom 
with  great  coldness,  and  he  even  reproved  Hushai  for  his 
unkindness  to  his  former  friend;  but  when  Hushai  art- 
fully replied,  *'  Whom  the  Lord  and  all  Israel  choose,  his 
will  I  be,  and  with  him  will  I  abide ;  as  I  have  served  in 
thy  father's  presence,  so  will  I  be  in  thy  presence" — with 
this  explanation  of  Hushai  Absalom  was  satisfied,  and  he 
immediately  placed  him  among  his  counsellors.  In  the 
council  that  was  soon  after  called,  Ahithophel  first  "  urged 
Absalom  to  take  public  possession  of  his  father's  concu- 
bines," and  then  allow  him,  without  a  moment's  delay,  to 
pursue  his  father  with  twelve  thousand  choice  troops  ;  say- 
ing, "  I  will  smite  the  king  only,  and  will  bring  back  the 
people  unto  thee  in  peace."  The  former  part  of  this  coun- 
sel was  at  once  followed,  and  thus  was  fulfilled  one  of 
Nathan's  awful  threatenings  to  David;  but  against  the 
latter,  Absalom  was  artfully  cautioned  by  Hushai,  who 
said,  "  Thou  knowest  thy  father  and  his  men,  that  they  be 
mighty  men,  and  chafed  in  their  minds  as  a  bear  robbed  of 
her  whelps  ;  and  thy  father  is  a  man  of  war,  and  will  not 
lodge  with  the  people.  Behold,  he  is  now  hid  in  some 
hold.  I,  therefore,  counsel  that  all  Israel  be  gathered  for 
the  fight — that  thou  go  to  battle  in  thine  own  person — that 
thus  with  the  whole  host  w^e  light  upon  thy  father  as  dew 
falleth  on  the  ground." 

Had  the  advice  of  Ahithophel,  in  this  desperate  state  of 
David's  affairs,  been  followed,  the  king  would,  in  all  human 
probability,  have  fallen ;  but  the  specious  counsel  of  Hushai 
prevailed,  "  For  the  Lord  had  appointed  to  defeat  the  good 


230  THE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

counsel  of  Abithopliel,  to  the  intent  tliat  the  Lord  might 
bring  evil  upon  Absalom."  As  soon  as  Ahithophel  per- 
ceived that  the  counsel  of  Hushai  was  to  be  followed  in 
preference  to  his  own,  he  saw  that  all  was  lost ;  and,  in 
order  to  escape  from  the  consequences  which  he  knew 
must  follow  the  restoration  of  David  to  the  throne,  he  re- 
paired "  to  his  own  house  and  hanged  himself." 

The  counsel  of  Hushai  had  no  sooner  been  adopted  by 
Absalom,  than  that  tried  and  faithful  friend  of  David  sent 
him  intelligence  of  the  event,  and  advised  him  to  pass, 
without  delay,  beyond  the  Jordan.  In  accordance  with 
this  advice,  David  and  his  followers  immediately  crossed 
the  river,  and  encamped  at  Mahanaim ;  and  in  that  fruit- 
ful district  he  had  an  opportunity  to  recruit  his  wearied 
followers,  and  to  call  to  his  standard  all  those  brave  men 
amongst  his  subjects  who  still  remained  loyal  to  their  king. 
At  the  same  time  his  camp  was  abundantly  supplied  with 
provisions  by  some  of  his  faitliful  subjects  and  allies, 
of  whom,  among  the  former,  was  the  venerable  Barzillai, 
the  Gileadite. 

While  David  was  thus  preparing  for  the  approaching 
conflict,  Absalom  was  by  no  means  inactive.  He  knew 
that  the  fate  of  the  kingdom  was  to  turn  upon  a  single 
battle ;  and  he,  therefore,  gathered  together  all  the  men  of 
Israel,  made  Amasa,  Joab's  nephew,  captain  of  the  host, 
and  placing  himself  at  the  head  of  the  whole  army,  passed 
over  the  river  Jordan  in  pursuit  of  his  father.  At  the 
approach  of  Absalom's  army,  David  arranged  his  own 
forces  in  three  divisions ;  the  first  led  by  Joab,  the  second 
by  Abishai,  and  the  third  by  Ittai,  the  Gittite ;  whilst  he 
himself  remained  in  the  city  with  a  reserve  force  to  bring 
to  their  aid,  should  it  be  found  necessary.  Confident  of 
victory,  David's  chief  concern  seems  to  have  been  for  the 
fate  of  Absalom ;  and  he,  therefore,  as  the  army  marched 


THE     KINGS.  231 

out  to  battle,  charged  his  generals,  in  the  presence  of  all 
the  people,  saying,  "  Deal  gently,  for  my  sake,  with  the 
young  man,  even  with  Absalom." 

The  two  armies  met  in  the  land  of  Gilead,  and  the  battle 
was  fought  in  the  woods  of  Ephraim,  on  the  east  side  of 
the  Jordan.  Absalom's  forces,  after  an  obstinate  resist- 
ance, finally  gave  way;  and,  being  closely  pursued  by 
Joab's  division  of  the  royal  army,  they  were  completely 
defeated,  leaving  twenty  thousand  slain  in  the  action,  and 
in  the  subsequent  flight.  The  rebel  himself,  as  soon  as  he 
saw  that  all  was  lost,  attempted  to  escape  through  the 
adjacent  wood;  but  being  caught  by  the  hair  in*  the 
branches  of  an  oak,  his  mule  passed  from  under  him,  and 
thus  left  him  suspended  "  between  the  heaven  and  the 
earth."  In  this  situation  Absalom  was  soon  found  by 
one  of  Joab's  soldiers,  who  immediately  conveyed  the  in- 
telligence to  his  general ;  and  Joab,  after  administering  a 
severe  reproof  to  the  man  for  not  having  slain  him  at  once,- 
hastened  himself  to  the  spot,  and  thrust  him  through 
with  his  spear.  Thus  perished  the  elegant  and  accom- 
plished Absalom ;  leaving  no  other  monument  of  his  am- 
bition than  a  pillar  which  he  himself  had  erected  in  the 
"  King's  Dale  ;"  and  which  now  served  only  to  perpetuate 
the  remembrance  of  his  infamous  and  unnatural  crimes. 

When  David  received  intelligence  of  the  result  of  the 
battle,  his  first  inquiry  was,  "Is  the  young  man  Absa- 
lom safe?"  and  when  he  was  informed  of  his  melancholy 
fate,  his  grief  knew  no  bounds.  "  He  went  up  to  the 
chamber  over  the  gate  and  wept ;  and  as  he  wept,  thus  he 
said,  0  my  son  Absalom !  my  son,  my  son  Absalom  !  would 
God  I  had  died  for  thee,  0  Absalom,  my  son,  my  son  I" 
When  Joab  heard  of  the  immoderate  grief  of  David  for  the 
death  of  Absalom,  and  saw  its  effect  upon  the  army,  he 
entered  boldly  into  the  presence  of  the  king,  and  severely 


282  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

remonstrated  with  him  on  the  impropriety  of  his  conduct 
This  remonstrance,  though  unbecoming  in  a  subject,  had 
the  desired  effect ;  and  "  David  arose  and  sat  in  the  gate, 
and  all  the  people  came  before  the  king." 

The  death  of  Absalom  put  an  effectual  end  to  the  con- 
spiracy, and  the  mass  of  the  people  at  once  renewed  their 
loyalty  to  the  king.  The  tribe  of  Judah  did  not,  how- 
ever, move  so  early  as  the  rest ;  and  this  circumstance 
gave  David  so  much  concern  that  he  sent  a  messenger  to 
the  elders  of  Judah,  saying,  "  Ye  are  my  brethren,  ye  are 
my  bones  and  my  flesh,  why  are  ye  the  last  then  to  bring 
back  the  king  to  his  home  ?"  To  Amasa,  Absalom's  gene- 
ral, David  sent  the  following  more  particular  message  : — 
"  Art  not  thou  of  my  bone  and  of  my  flesh  ?  God  do  so 
to  me,  and  more  also,  if  thou  be  not  captain  of  the  host 
before  me  continually,  in  the  room  of  Joab."  These  mes- 
sages had  the  desired  effect.  "  The  heart  of  all  the  men  of 
Judah  was  turned  to  David  as  the  heart  of  one  man,  and  they 
said  unto  the  king,  Keturn  thou  and  all  thy  servants." 

The  return  of  the  tribe  of  Judah  to  their  allegiance,  in- 
duced David  to  leave  Mahanaim,  where  he  had  remained 
for  some  time  after  his  victory,  and  conduct  his  faithful 
followers  back  to  Jerusalem.  When  he  arrived  at  the 
river  Jordan  he  was  met  by  the  whole  tribe  of  Judah, 
who  had  come  thither  to  conduct  their  king  to  his  capital ; 
and  these  were  accompanied  by  Shiraei,  at  the  head  of  a 
thousand  Benjamites,  and  also  by  the  treacherous  Ziba, 
with  his  sons  and  servants.  As  soon  as  Abishai  the  gene- 
ral, saw  Shimei,  he  was  fired  with  indignation  at  his 
audacity,  and  desired  the  king  to  allow  him  to  put  him 
instantly  to  death,  "  because  he  had  cursed  the  Lord's 
anointed."  But  David,  now  conscious  of  the  strength  of 
his  present  position,  and  not  willing  to  stoop  to  an  act  of 
revenge,  accepted  the  traitor's  apology,   and  spared  hia 


THE     KINGS.  233 

life.  To  Ziba,  whose  treachery  to  his  master  he  had  not 
yet  discovered,  he  renewed  the  grant  of  an  equal  share 
with  Mephibosheth,  in  the  latter's  patrimonial  inheritance. 

The  aged  and  faithful  Barzillai  also  came  to  meet  his 
sovereign ;  and  when  David  beheld  him,  under  the  grateful 
recollection  of  his  timely  succor  at  Mahanaim,  he  invited 
him  to  go  up  with  him  to  Jerusalem,  saying,  "  Come  thou 
over  with  me,  and  I  will  feed  thee  with  me  in  Jerusalem." 
Barzillai,  however,  pleaded  his  own  great  age  as  an  excuse 
for  not  accepting  the  king's  invitation  to  accompany  him 
to  Jerusalem ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  he  recommended  to 
the  royal  munificence  his  son  Chimham,  whom  David 
accordingly  took  with  him,  and  afterwards  settled  on  a  part 
of  his  own  patrimonial  estate  near  Bethlehem,  and  thence- 
forth the  place  itself  received  the  name  of  Chimham. 

When  David,  attended  by  the  tribe  of  Judah  and  his 
other  immediate  followers,  arrived  at  Gilgal,  he  found 
assembled  at  that  place  the  different  tribes  of  Israel,  to 
welcome  his  return ;  but  v/hen  these  tribes  learned  that 
the  tribe  of  Judah  had  been  particularly  summoned  by 
David  to  attend  him,  they  became  greatly  incensed,  and 
openly  charged  the  men  of  Judah  with  having  '•  stolen  the 
king  from  their  brethren."  To  this  charge  the  leaders  of 
the  tribe  of  Judah  replied  with  such  fierceness,  that  the 
other  tribes  resolved,  at  once,  to  abandon  the  cause  of  the 
king;  and  Sheba,  a  Benjamite,  taking  advantage  of  the 
strife,  immediately  blew  the  trumpet  of  sedition,  and  ex- 
claimed, in  the  midst  of  the  people,  "  We  have  no  part  in 
David,  neither  have  we  inheritance  in  the  son  of  Jesse : 
every  man  to  his  tents,  0  Israel." 

The  insurrection  thus  excited  by  Sheba,  soon  as- 
sumed so  formidable  an  aspect,  that  David,  immediately 
after  his  arrival  at  Jerusalem,  directed  Amasa  "  to  assem- 
ble the  men  of  Judah,"  and  hold  himself  in  readiness  for 


234  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

farther  orders.  Amasa,  however,  being  dilatory  in  his 
preparations,  and  the  insurrection  becoming  daily  more 
serious,  the  king  at  length  commissioned  AbLshai  to  place 
himself  at  once  at  the  head  of  a  sufficient  force  to  quell  it. 
Abishai,  accompanied  by  Joab,  took,  in  accordance  with 
his  commission,  "  the  Cherethites,  and  the  Pelethites,  and 
the  mighty  men,  and  pursued  after  Sheba."  At  Gibeon 
they  met  with  Amasa ;  and  Joab,  notwithstanding  he  was 
his  own  nephew,  through  envy  of  Amasa's  recent  promo- 
tion, and  under  the  cover  of  an  assumed  salutation  of 
friendship,  immediately  stabbed  him  to  the  heart.  Leav- 
ing an  officer  to  guard  the  body,  Abishai  and  Joab  pressed 
forward  in  pursuit  of  Sheba ;  and  when  they  learned  that 
he  had  collected,  out  of  the  different  tribes,  a  considerable 
force,  and  had  taken  possession  of  Abel-Bethmaachah,  they 
immediately  marched  thither  and  laid  siege  to  the  city. 

The  siege  had  been  continued  but  a  short  time  before 
a  prudent  woman  of  the  city  appeared  upon  the  walls,  and 
addressing  herself  to  Joab,  said,  ''  I  am  one  of  them  that 
are  peaceful  and  faithful  in  Israel :  thou  seekest  to  destroy 
a  city  and  a  mother  in  Israel :  why  wilt  thou  swallow  up 
the  inheritance  of  the  Lord?"  To  this  appeal  Joab  replied, 
"  Far  be  it  from  me  that  I  should  swallow  up  or  destroy. 
I  seek  only  Sheba,  who  hath  lifted  up  his  hand  against  the 
king :  deliver  him  only,  and  I  will  depart  from  the  city." 
This  proposal,  seconded  by  the  influence  of  the  woman 
who  had  appealed  to  the  general,  was  accepted  by  the 
chief  men  of  the  city :  the  head  of  Sheba  was  cut  oft"  and 
thrown  over  the  wall,  and  the  brave,  haughty,  and  imperi- 
ous Joab  returned  in  triumph  to  Jerusalem.  He  had  now, 
however,  to  the  murder  of  Abner,  added  the  more  atrocious 
and  deliberate  murder  of  Amasa ;  and,  though  the  Divine 
vengeance  due  to  such  crimes  seemed  to  slumber  for  a 
time,  yet  it  eventually  awoke  in  all  its  fury. 


THE     KINGS.  235 


SECTION   VI. 

David  : — The  Land  of  Israel  visited  by  Famine — War  with  the  Philis- 
tines— The  Numbering^  of  the  People — Its  Consequences — David's 
approaching  Dissolution — Solomon  desic^nated  as  his  Successor — 
Adouijah  attempts  to  usui-p  the  Throne — Solomon  anointed  King — 
David's  Address  to  him,  and  to  the  People — Directions  respectmg 
Joab,  Shimei,  and  Barzillai — David's  Death  and  Character 


More  than  twenty  years  elapsed  between  the  sentence 
pronounced  upon  David's  transgression  by  the  prophet 
Nathan  and  the  death  of  Sheba ;  and  the  whole  of  that 
dreary  period  was  filled  up  with  distressing  cares  and  civil 
strife.  Humiliation  and  grief  for  his  own  sin,  mortifica- 
tion for  the  unnatural  and  sinful  conduct  of  his  sons,  and 
the  facility  with  which  his  subjects  were  drawn  aside  from 
their  allegiance  to  him,  left  few  intervals  of  peace  to  the 
unhappy  monarch.  And  yet,  in  the  hours  of  his  bitterest 
anguish,  the  picture  which  he  presents  of  a  stricken  spirit, 
in  the  presence  of  his  justly  ofiended  God,  forms,  perhaps, 
the  most  beautiful  feature  of  his  whole  character. 

While  David  was  congratulating  himself  on  his  restora- 
tion to  the  throne,  and  the  return  of  tranquillity  and  peace 
to  his  kingdom,  the  whole  of  the  land  of  Israel  was  visited 
by  a  famine,  which  continued,  without  abatement,  for  three 
successive  years.  During  the  first  and  second  years  of  its 
continuance,  the  famine  seems  to  have  assumed  no  very 
extraordinary  aspect ;  but  in  the  early  part  of  the  third 
year,  it  became  so  dreadfully  severe,  that  David  was  led 
to  regard  it  as  a  direct  visitation  of  Providence  for  some 
unatoned  sin.  He  was  moved,  therefore,  to  inquire  of 
the  Lord  what  it  was  that  had  brought  this  severe  judg- 
ment upon  the  land;  and,  in  reply  to  his  inquiry,  the 
Almighty  answered,  "  It  is  for  Saul  and  his  bloody  house, 
because  they  slew  the  Gibeonites." 

The  ancestors  of  these  Gibeonites,  it  will  be  remembered, 


236  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

had  fraudulently  obtained  from  Joshua  a  treaty  of  alliance, 
which  was  solemnly  ratified  by  a  public  oath  ;  and,  though 
the  fraud  was  afterwards  discovered,  yet,  as  the  oath  to  the 
treaty  had  been  taken  "  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  God  of 
Israel,"  it  could  not  be  violated :  the  lives,  and  even  the 
cities  of  the  Gibeonites  were,  therefore,  spared;  but  the 
people  were  all  reduced  to  a  state  of  slavery.  In  this 
situation  they  remained  until  that  period  in  the  reign  of 
Saul,  when,  in  his  rage,  he  slew  the  priests  of  Nob,  and 
great  numbers  of  the  Gibeonites,  who  were  the  servants  of 
the  priests,  along  with  them.  Saul  had,  also,  previously 
slain  many  of  the  Gibeonites,  "in,"  as  he  pretended,  "his 
zeal  for  the  children  of  Israel  and  Judah."  It  was  these 
cruelties  and  violations  of  public  faith,  that  the  Almighty 
now  required  to  be  atoned  for ;  and  as  soon,  therefore,  as 
David  knew  the  cause  of  the  grievous  calamity  which 
rested  upon  Israel,  he  sent  to  the  remnant  of  the  Gibeon- 
ites, saying,  "  What  shall  I  do  for  you  1  and  wherewith 
shall  I  make  the  atonement,  that  ye  may  bless  the  inherit- 
ance of  the  Lord?"  To  this  inquiry  the  Gibeonites 
replied,  "  We  desire  neither  silver  nor  gold  ;  but  that 
seven  men  of  the  sons  of  Saul,  who  had  consumed  them, 
should  be  delivered  unto  us,  and  we  will  bring  them  up 
unto  the  Lord  in  Gibeah  of  Saul." 

Knowing,  from  what  had  already  passed,  that  it  was 
the  will  of  God  that  the  Gibeonites  should  be  avenged, 
David  immediately  prepared  to  comply  with  this  request ; 
but  lest  he  should  be  suspected  of  designing  to  remove 
any  of  the  line  of  Saul  who  might  become  competitors  of 
his  own  family  for  the  throne,  he  passed  over  all  Saul's 
male  descendants,  and  selected  the  two  sons  of  his  concu- 
bine Rizpah,  and  the  five  sons  of  Merah,  his  younge§t 
daughter.  These  seven  descendants  of  Saul  being  deliver- 
ed into  the  hands  of  the  Gibeonites,  "  they  hanged  them 


THE     KINGS.  237 

in  the  hill  before  the  Lord."  In  her  affliction  for  the  cruel 
fate  of  her  sons,  the  maternal  affection  of  Eizpah  was  ex- 
hibited in  all  its  melancholy  tenderness ;  and,  in  order  to 
guard  their  suspended  remains  from  injury,  "  she  took 
sackcloth  and  spread  it  upon  a  rock,  from  the  beginning 
of  harvest,  until  water  dropped  out  of  heaven,  and  suffered 
neither  the  birds  of  the  air  to  rest  on  them  by  day,  nor 
the  beasts  of  the  field  by  night."  Intelligence  of  this  de- 
votion of  Rizpah  to  the  protection  of  her  sons,  even  after 
their  death,  being  communicated  to  David,  the  king  was 
deeply  moved ;  and  he  sent  for  the  bones  of  the  whole 
seven  that  had  been  hanged,  and  gave  them  honorable 
burial.  "And  David  also  took  the  bones  of  Saul,  and 
the  bones  of  Jonathan  his  son,  from  the  men  of  Jabesh 
Gilead,  and  buried  them  in  the  sepulchre  of  Kish,  his 
father:  and  after  that  God  was  entreated  for  the  land," 
and  prosperity  again  returned  to  Israel. 

The  calamity  of  the  famine  had  scarcely  passed  before  the 
Philistines,  those  ever  restless  enemies  of  Israel,  once  more 
invaded  the  country.  To  repel  them  David  immediately 
led  forth  a  powerful  army  in  person ;  and,  though  success- 
ful in  the  battle  that  followed,  yet,  exerting  himself  in  the 
conflict  beyond  his  strength,  he  became  exhausted ;  and  in 
this  state  he  was  attacked  by  a  Philistine  giant,  who  would 
have  slain  him,  had  not  Abishai  come  to  his  relief,  and 
killed  his  antagonist.  The  exposure  of  the  king  on  this 
occasion,  so  greatly  alarmed  the  army,  that  they  immedi- 
ately resolved  to  restrain  him  thenceforth  from  accompany- 
ing them  to  the  battle-field;  and  they,  therefore,  in  the 
beautiful  language  of  the  sacred  historian,  sware  unto  him, 
saying,  "  Thou  shalt  go  no  more  out  with  us  to  battle,  that 
thou  quench  not  the  light  of  Israel."  Three  other  battles 
with  the  Philistines  followed  in  rapid  succession ;  and  in 
each  conflict  the  armies  of  Israel  were  so  signally  success- 


238  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

fnl,  that  these  inveterate  enemies  were  effectually  subdued, 
and  the  rest  of  David's  reign  was  consequently  free  from 
foreign  wars. 

For  these  successive  triumphs  over  his  most  inveterate 
enemies,  and  also  for  all  his  past  successes,  David  had 
now  so  deep  a  sense  of  his  indebtedness  to  Divine  aid,  that 
he  publicly  poured  forth  his  expression  of  thanksgiving  to 
the  Almighty,  in  that  beautiful  hymn  of  praise  and  grate- 
ful acknowledgment  which  is  found  recorded  in  the  twenty- 
second  chapter  of  the  Second  Book  of  Samuel,  and  also  in 
the  eighteenth  Psalm.  After  recapitulating  his  trust  in 
God  in  times  of  distress,  and  the  many  wonderful  deliver- 
ances which  he  had  experienced,  he  closes  the  whole  hymn 
in  the  following  elevated  and  appropriate  strain:  "Jehovah 
is  the  tower  of  salvation  for  his  king,  and  sheweth  mercy 
to  his  anointed,  unto  David  and  to  his  seed  for  evermore. 
Therefore  I  will  give  thanks  unto  thee,  0  Lord,  among  the 
heathen,  I  will  sing  praises  unto  thy  name." 

The  Israelites  enjoyed,  after  these  closing  wars  with  the 
Philistines,  a  considerable  interval  of  peace,  prosperity, 
and  happiness ;  and,  in  the  midst  of  this  repose  and  quiet, 
there  was  every  appearance  that  David's  long  and  eventful 
reign  would  close.  But  in  an  evil  hour,  David,  in  direct 
violation  of  the  Divine  command,  was  tempted  to  number 
the  people ;  and  he,  therefore,  directed  Joab  to  go  forth 
throughout  the  land,  and  take  the  census  of  the  different 
tribes.  Joab,  however,  well  knowing  that  such  a  step 
would  be  offensive  to  God,  and  of  evil  consequences  to  the 
people,  remonstrated  against  the  measure,  saying,  "  The 
Lord  make  his  people  an  hundred  times  as  many  as  they 
be ;  but  why  doth  my  lord  the  king  delight  in  this  thing, 
and  make  himself  a  cause  of  trespass  to  Israel?"  Joab's 
remonstrance,  however,  proved  ineffectual,  and  he  reluc- 
tantly went  forth  to  number  the  people.     They  began  on 


THE     KINGS.  239 

the  east  side  of  the  river  Jordan,  and  thence  passing 
through  the  northern  part  of  the  kingdom,  they  returned, 
at  the  expiration  of  nine  months  and  twenty  days,  to 
Jerusalem.  The  number  of  men  in  Israel  capable  of 
bearing  arms,  was,  according  to  Joab's  estimate,  one  mil- 
lion three  hundred  thousand ;  but  as  the  whole  matter  was 
irksome,  and  even  odious  to  him,  the  census  was  not 
completed :  "  the  tribes  of  Levi  and  Benjamin  were  not 
counted." 

David  had  no  sooner  received  the  account  of  the  num- 
ber of  his  people,  than  he  became  conscious  that  what  he 
had  done  was  offensive  to  the  Almighty ;  and  he,  there- 
fore, in  the  most  fervent  and  penitent  manner,  entreated 
forgiveness.  "  I  have  sinned,"  said  he,  "  greatly  in  that 
I  have  done :  and  now  I  beseech  thee,  0  Lord,  take  away 
the  iniquity  of  thy  servant;  for  I  have  done  very  fool- 
ishly." This  frank  confession  assuaged,  in  some  degree, 
the  anger  of  the  Almighty,  but  did  not  atone  for  the 
offense  ;  and  God,  therefore,  sent  the  prophet  Gad  to 
David,  saying,  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord,  I  offer  thee  three 
things ;  choose  thee  one  of  them,  that  I  may  do  it  unto 
thee :  either  seven  years  of  famine,  or  three  months'  flight 
before  thine  enemies,  or  three  days'  pestilence  in  thy  land." 
Of  these  proposed  punishments,  David  chose  the  last ;  and 
he,  therefore,  said  unto  the  prophet,  "  Let  us  fiall  now  into 
the  hand  of  the  Lord,  for  very  great  are  his  mercies  ;  and 
let  me  not  fall  into  the  hand  of  man."  The  pestilence, 
accordingly,  came,  and  it  swept  Avith  such  terrific  destruc- 
tion through  the  land  that,  before  the  three  days  had  ex- 
pired, "  there  fell  of  Israel  seventy  thousand  men." 

When  the  destroying  angel,  in  passing  through  the  land, 
came  to  Jerusalem,  the  Almighty  said .  to  him,  "  It  is 
enough, ;  stay  now  thine  hand ;"  and  as  David  beheld 
this  pause  in  the  work  of  destruction,  he  prostrated  him- 


240  THE     ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

self  before  the  Divine  messenger,  and,  assuming  all  the  sin 
and  guilt  of  the  recent  offense,  exclaimed,  "  Lo,  I  have 
sinned,  and  have  done  wickedly.  Let  thine  hand,  I  pray 
thee,  be  against  me  and  against  my  father's  house,  but  not 
on  my  people,  that  they  should  be  plagued.''  By  this 
solemn  humiliation,  and  intercession  for  his  people,  David 
appeased  the  wrath  of  the  Almighty,  and,  therefore,  God 
sent  the  prophet  to  him  with  directions  to  erect  "  an  altar 
unto  the  Lord,  in  the  threshing-floor  of  Araunah" — the 
place  at  which  the  angel  had  paused.  David,  in  accord- 
ance with  this  command,  went  immediately  to  Araunah, 
purchased  the  land,  "  and  built  there  an  altar  unto  the 
Lord,  and  offered  burnt-offerings  and  peace-offerings.  So 
the  plague  was  stayed  from  Israel."  The  spot  upon  which 
this  altar  was  built,  was  Mount  Moriah — the  place  where 
the  patriarch  Abraham  had,  many  centuries  before,  pre- 
pared to  offer  up  his  son  Isaac,  and  around  which  Solo- 
mon soon  after  erected  his  magnificent  Temple. 

The  active  and  varied  life  of  David  was  now  rapidly 
drawing  to  a  close.  He  had  nearly  reached  the  seventieth 
year  of  his  age,  and  the  pressure  of  bodily  infirmities  rested 
heavily  upon  him.  In  this  comparatively  helpless  condi- 
tion, he  was  surprised  with  the  intelligence  that  Adonijah, 
his  eldest  son  living,  was  preparing  to  usurp  the  throne. 
It  was,  doubtless,  well  understood  at  court  that  David  de- 
signed to  leave  the  succession  to  Solomon  ;  but  Adonijah, 
in  opposition  to  his  father's  known  intentions,  claimed  the 
throne  as  his  lawful  inheritance.  In  his  personal  appear- 
ance, and  in  the  ease  and  elegance  of  his  address,  he  re- 
markably resembled  Absalom ;  and  like  him,  he  had  now, 
for  some  time,  maintained  a  princely  state  and  retinue. 
Having  communicated  his  design  to  Joab,  who  was  still  at 
the  head  of  the  army,  and  to  Abiathar  the  chief  priest,  and 
being  by  both  encouraged  in  his  enterprise,  he  felt  certain 


THE     KINGS.  241 

of  success ;  and  he,  tlierefore,  caused  to  be  prepared  a 
sumptuous  banquet  at  Enrogel,  near  Jerusalem,  to  which 
he  "  invited  the  king's  sons  and  the  men  of  Judah"— to 
the  exchision,  however,  of  all  who  were  known  to  be 
friendly  to  Solomon.  As  his  coronation  was  immediately 
to  follow  the  close  of  the  entertainment,  Adonijah  very 
naturally  supposed  that  the  presence  of  a  large  number  of 
the  royal  household  would  be  of  the  utmost  importance  to 
the  success  of  his  cause  ;  and  it  was  on  this  account,  there- 
fore, that  of  the  court  and  family  of  the  king,  the  only  im- 
portant jjersonages  who  were  not  invited  to  the  feast,  were 
Nathan  the  prophet,  Benaiah  the  captain  of  the  guards,  and 
bis  brother  Solomon. 

The  purpose  of  Adonijah  was,  however,  frustrated  by 
the  vigilance  of  Nathan,  who  was  no  sooner  informed  of 
what  was  going  on  at  Enrogel,  than  he  hastened  to  Bath' 
sheba,  and  urged  her  to  communicate,  without  delay,  the 
intelligence  to  David.  Bathsheba,  greatly  alarmed  at 
what  she  had  heard,  went  at  once  to  the  apartment  of  the 
king,  and  prostrating  herself  before  him,  said,  in  the  most 
earnest  manner,  "  My  lord,  thou  swearest  by  the  Lord  thy 
God  unto  thine  handmaid,  assuredly  Solomon  thy  son 
shall  reign  after  me  ;  and  now  Adonijah  reigneth,  and  thou 
knowest  it  not.  And  thou,  my  lord,  0  king,  the  eyes  of  all 
Israel  are  upon  thee,  that  thou  shouldst  tell  them  who  shall 
sit  on  the  throne  of  my  lord  the  king  after  him."  Bath- 
sheba had  scarcely  finished  her  address  to  the  king  before 
the  prophet  Nathan  entered  the  apartment,  and  confirmed 
all  that  she  had  said ;  upon  which  David,  in  the  most 
solemn  manner,  confirmed  his  former  promise  that  Solo- 
mon should  be  his  successor,  saying,  "  As  the  Lord  liveth, 
that  hath  redeemed  my  soul  out  of  all  distress,  even  as  I 
sware  unto  thee  by  the  Lord  God  of  Israel,  assuredly 
Solomon  thy  son  shall  reign  after  roe,  and  shall  sit  upon 
11 


242  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

my  throne  in  my  stead,  even  so  will  I  certainly  do  this 
day." 

The  imminence  of  the  danger,  however,  of  having 
David's  purpose  thwarted,  admitted  of  no  delay ;  and  he, 
therefore,  immediately  directed  Nathan  the  prophet,  Zadok 
the  priest,  and  Benaiah  the  captain  of  the  guard,  saying, 
"  Take  Solomon  my  son  and  cause  him  to  ride  upon  mine 
own  mule,  and  bring  him  down  to  Gihon,  and  let  Zadok 
the  priest,  and  Nathan  the  prophet,  anoint  him  there  king 
over  Israel ;  for  he  shall  be  king  in  my  stead,  and  I  have 
appointed  him  to  be  ruler  over  Israel  and  over  Judah." 
In  accordance  with  this  direction,  Zadok,  Nathan,  and 
Benaiah,  accompanied  by  the  Cherethites  and  Pelethites, 
went  down  to  Gihon,  and  there  anointed  Solomon  king, 
"  and  they  blew  the  trumpet,  and  all  the  people  said,  God 
save  king  Solomon;  and  they  rejoiced  with  great  joy, 
so  that  the  earth  rent  with  the  sound  of  them."  These  pub- 
lic rejoicings  of  the  people  at  the  peaceful  succession  of 
Solomon  to  the  throne,  were  soon  known  at  Enrogel ;  and 
the  banquet  of  Adonijah  was,  consequently,  suddenly  bro- 
ken up  "  and  every  man  went  his  own  way."  Adonijah 
himself  fled,  and  "  took  hold  upon  the  horns  of  the  altar  ;" 
but  Solomon  sent  for  him,  publicly  pardoned  him,  and  al 
lowed  him  to  return  to  his  own  house  in  peace. 

Solomon  being  thus  firmly  seated  on  the  throne,  and  the 
civil  government  of  the  kingdom  established,  David  "  gath- 
ered together  the  princes  of  Israel,  and  the  Priests  and 
X^evit^s,"  and  regulated  the  future  order  of  public  worship. 
These  regulations  had  reference  to  the  worship  to  be  ob- 
served in  the  Temple  which  David  had  designed  to  build, 
and  for  which  he  had  made  extensive  preparations  ;  but  the 
honor  of  erecting  the  byilding  was  reserved  for  his  son 
Solomon.  The  whole  number  of  Levites  at  this  time,  who 
had  passed  the  thirtieth  yej^i;  o,f  t^eir  age,  w^s  thirty-ei^ht 


THE     KINGS.  243 

thousand.  Of  these,  twenty-four  thousand  were  to  carry 
forward  the  work  of  the  Temple,  six  thousand  were  to  be 
judges  and  officers,  four  thousand,  to  be  porters,  and  four 
thousand  were  to  conduct  the  offerings  of  praise  and 
thanksgiving.  The  solemn  and  gorgeous  Temple  service 
being  thus  provided  for,  the  splendid  ritual  of  the  Old 
Testament  economy  was  completed,  and  David's  specific 
work  was  done.  Under  his  government  the  covenant  peo 
pie  were  established  in  the  possession  of  the  promised  land, 
and  the  Ark  of  God,  with  the  visible  sign  of  the  Divine 
presence  upon  it,  had  found  a  resting  place ;  the  chosen 
spot  for  the  Temple  had  been  designated,  and  the  order 
of  the  services  therein  to  be  observed,  defined :  David  had, 
therefore,  nothing  more  to  do  than  to  deliver  his  dying 
charge  to  the  people  and  to  Salomon,  and  then  go  to  rest 
with  his  fathers.  These  charges  we  shall  give  in  his  own 
appropriate  and  beautiful  language. 

''And  David  assembled  all  the  princes  of  Israel,  the 
princes  of  the  tribes,  and  the  captains  of  the  companies 
that  ministered  to  the  king  by  course,  and  the  captains  over 
the  thousands,  and  over  the  hundreds,  and  the  stewards 
over  all  the  substance  of  the  king,  and  of  his  sons,  witli 
the  officers,  and  with  the  mighty  men,  and  with  all  the 
valiant  men,  unto  Jerusalem.  Then  David  the  king  stood 
up  upon  his  feet  and  said.  Hear  me,  my  brethren  and  my 
people :  as  for  me,  I  had  it  in  mine  heart  to  build  a  house 
of  rest  for  the  Ark  of  the  Covenant  of  the  Lord,  and  for 
the  footstool  of  our  Clod,  and  had  made  ready  for  the 
building:  but  God  said  unto  me.  Thou  shalt  not  build  a 
house  for  my  name,  because  thou  hast  been  a  man  of  war, 
and  hast  shed  blood.  Howbeit  the  Lord  God  of  Israel 
chose  me  before  all  the  house  of  my  father  to  be  king  over 
Israel  forever :  for  he  hath  chosen  Judah  to  be  the  ruler, 
and  of  the  house  of  Judah,  the  house  of  my  father ;  and 


244  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

among  the  sons  of  my  father  he  liked  me  to  make  me  king 
over  all  Israel.  And  he  said  unto  me,  Solomon  thy  son, 
he  shall  build  my  house  and  my  courts ;  for  I  have  chosen 
him  to  be  my  son,  and  I  will  be  his  father.  Moreover,  I 
will  establish  his  kingdom,  if  he  be  content  to  do  my 
commandments,  and  my  judgments,  as  at  this  day.  Now, 
therefore,  in  the  sight  of  all  Israel,  the  congregation  of  the 
Lord,  and  in  the  audience  of  our  God,  keep  and  seek  for 
all  the  commandments  of  the  Lord  your  God  ;  that  ye  may 
possess  this  good  land,  and  leave  it  for  an  inheritance  for 
your  children  after  you  for  ever." 

To  this  general  address  to  the  people,  David  added  a  par 
ticular  exhortation  that  they  would  follow  his  own  example, 
and  freely  consecrate  of  their  substance  to  the  building  of 
the  contemplated  Temple.  •  To  this  appeal  the  king  imme- 
diately received  a  hearty  response ;  and  "  They  offered 
willingly  and  rejoiced,  because  with  perfect  heart  they 
offered  unto  the  Lord.  They  gave  liberally  of  gold,  silver, 
brass  and  iron,  besides  precious  stones  for  the  service  of 
the  house  of  God."  This  willing  and  joyful  sacrifice  of 
the  people  filled  David's  heart  with  such  gratitude  and  de- 
light, that  he  offered  public  thanks  to  the  Almighty,  say- 
ing, "  Blessed  be  the  Lord  God  of  Israel  our  father  for  ever 
and  for  ever.  Thine,  0  Lord,  is  the  greatness,  and  the 
power,  and  the  glory,  and  the  victory,  and  the  majesty ; 
for  all  that  is  in  the  heaven  and  in  the  earth  is  thine : 
thine  is  the  kingdom,  0  Lord,  and  thou  art  exalted  as 
head  above  all.  Both  riches  and  honor  come  of  thee,  and 
thou  reignest  over  all;  and  in  thine  hand  is  power  and 
might ;  and  in  thine  hand  it  is  to  make  great,  and  to  give 
strength  unto  all.  *  *  *  Q  Lord  our  God,  all  this  store 
that  we  have  prepared  to  build  thee  a  house  for  thy  holy 
name,  cometh  of  thine  hand,  and  is  all  thine  own.  I 
know  also,  my  God,  that  thou  triest  the  heart,  and  hast 


THE     KINGS.  24o 

pleasure  in  uprightness.  Asefor  me,  in  the  uprightness  of 
my  heart  I  have  willingly  offered  all  these  things  ;  and 
now  have  I  seen  with  joy  thy  people,  which  are  present 
here,  to  offer  willingly  nnto  thee.  0  Lord  God  of  Abra- 
ham, Isaac,  and  of  Israel,  our  fathers,  keep  this  for  ever  in 
the  imagination  of  the  thoughts  of  the  heart  of  thy  people  ; 
and  prepare  their  heart  unto  thee :  and  give  unto  Solo- 
mon my  son  a  perfect  heart  to  keep  thy  commandments, 
thy  testimonies,  and  thy  statutes,  and  to  do  all  these 
things  ,  and  to  build  the  palace,  for  the  which  I  have  made 
provision."  In  this  public  thanksgiving  the  whole  as- 
sembly, with  one  voice,  united ;  and  their  praise  ascended 
as  sweet  incense  to  the  Almighty. 

Having  closed  his  address  to  the  people ;  and  his 
solemn  thanksgiving  to  God,  David  turned  to  Solomon 
and  said,  "  And  thou  Solmon  my  son,  Know  thou  the  God 
of  thy  father,  and  serve  him  with  a  perfect  heart,  and  with 
a  willing  mind ;  for  the  Lord  searcheth  all  hearts,  and  un- 
derstandeth  all  the  imaginations  of  the  thoughts :  if  thou 
seek  him,  he  will  be  found  of  thee ;  but  if  thou  forsake 
him,  he  will  cast  thee  off  for  ever.  Take  heed  now ;  for 
the  Lord  hath  chosen  thee  to  build  a  house  for  the  sanctu- 
ary :  be  strong  and  do  it."  He  then  gave  him  the  pattern 
for  the  Temple  with  its  porches  and  buildings,  an  account 
of  the  materials  he  had  collected,  and  the  order  of  Priests 
and  Levites  which  he  had  arranged,  and  concluded  by 
again  charging  the  young  king,  saying,  "  Be  strong,  and 
of  good  courage,  and  do  it ;  fear  not.  nor  be  dismayed;  for 
the  Lord  God,  even  my  God,  will  be  with  thee ;  he  will 
not  fail  thee  nor  forsake  thee,  until  thou  hast  finished  all 
the  work  for  the  house  of  the  Lord."  These  directions 
and  exhortations  were  followed  on  the  part  of  the  people 
by  a  second  profession  of  allegiance  to  Solomon  as  king ; 
and  thus  firmly  seated  on  the  throne,  he   commences  his 


246  THE     ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

reign  amidst  tlie  joyful  acclaij^ations  of  bis  loyal  subjects* 
"  Ahd  tbe  Lord  magnified  Solomon  exceedingly  in  tbe  sigbt 
of  all  Israel,  and  bestowed  upon  him  sucli  royal  majesty 
as  had  not  been  on  any  king  before  him  in  Israel." 

David  had  still  a  solemn  and  important  duty  to  per- 
form respecting  Joab,  Sliimei,  and  Barzillai ;  and  as  he 
felt  that  death  was  rapidly  approaching,  he  once  more 
called  Solomon  to  him  and  gave  him  his  final  charge.  '•  I 
go,"  said  he,  "the  way  of  all  the  earth;  be  thou  strong, 
therefore,  and  shew  thyself  a  man ;  and  keep  the  charge 
of  the  Lord  thy  God,  to  walk  in  his  ways,  to  keep  his 
commandments,  as  written  in  the  law  of  Moses,  that  thou 
mayest  prosper,  and  that  the  Lord  may  continue  his  word 
which  he  spake  concerning  me."  He  then  charged  him  to 
remember  Joab,  saying,  "  Do  according  to  thy  wisdom, 
and  let  not  his  hoar  head  go  down  to  the  grave  iu  peace." 
It  will  be  remembered  that  Joab  had  deliberately  murdered 
Abner  and  Amasa ;  and  though,  through  his  peculiar  in- 
fluence with  the  army,  he  had  hitherto  escaped  the  punish- 
ment which  his  crimes  so  richly  deserved,  yet  David  could 
not  die  in  peace  till  justice  was  vindicated,  and  his  throne 
and  government  cleansed  of  any  share  in  the  murder  of 
these  innocent  men :  he,  therefore,  charged  Solomon  to 
cause  Joab  to  be  publicly  executed  as  a  murderer.  With 
regard  to  Shimei,  the  directions  given  by  David  were,  that 
though  he  was  not  to  be  treated  as  a  guiltless  man,  yet,  as  he 
had  come  out  to  welcome  him  on  his  return  to  Jerusalem 
at  the  close  of  the  rebellion  of  Absalom,  his  life  was  to  be 
spared  :  "  Bring  thou,  therefoi-e,"  said  David,  "  his  hoar 
hair  down  to  die  grave  with  blood."  Solomon,  according- 
ly, spared  the  life  of  Shimei;  but  he  directed  him  to  build 
a  habitation  in  the  city  of  Jerusalem,  and  there  perma- 
nently to  abide ;  but  Shimei  was  afterwards  put  to  death 
for  breaking  his  parole  of  honor.     In  the  midst  of  these 


THE     KINGS. 


247 


closing  and  exciting  scenes  of  David's  life,  the  kindness 
of  Barzillai  was  not  forgotten;  and  he,  therefore,  im- 
pressed it  upon  Solomon  as  a  solemn  duty  to  cherish  the 
remembrance  of  it,  "  and  to  deal  favorably  with  his  sons : 
to  let  them  be  as  these  that  eat  at  thy  table." 

The  shades  of  death  now  thickly  settling  upon  the  clos- 
ing scenes  of  David's  eventful  life,  his  last  words  were, 
"  The  spirit  of  the  Lord  spake  by  me,  and  his  word  was 
in  my  tongue.  Tlie  God  of  Israel  said,  the  Rock  of  Israel 
spake  to  me,  He  that  ruleth  over  men  must  be  just,  ruling 
in  the  fear  of  God.  And  he  shall  be  as  the  light  of  the 
morning;  when  the  sun  riseth,  even  a  morning  without 
clouds ;  as  the  tender  grass  springing  out  of  the  earth  by 
clear  shining  after  rain.  Although  my  house  be  not  so 
with  God,  yet  he  hath  made  with  me  an  everlasting  cove- 
nant, ordered  in  all  things  and  sure :  for  this  is  all  my 
salvation  and  all  my  desire ;  although  he  make  it  not  to 
grow."  "  So  David  slept  with  his  fathers,  and  was  buried 
in  the  city  of  David."  Thus  died  the  sweet  singer  of 
Israel,  in  the  seventy-first  year  of  his  age,  1015  A.  C, 
and  after  a  reign  of  forty  years,  seven  of  which  were 
passed  at  Hebron,  and  thirty-three  at  Jerusalem. 

In  whatever  light  we  view  the  character  of  David,  we 
must  certainly  regard  him  as  one  of  the  greatest  and  best, 
not  only  of  monarchs,  but  of  men.  As  a  man,  he  was 
affectionate  and  generous ;  noble  in  all  his  impulses,  for- 
giving to  his  enemies,  and  grateful  to  his  friends.  As  a 
warrior,  his  frequent  and  brilliant  victories  abundantly 
testify  to  his  ability.  As  a  king,  he  was  wise  in  council,, 
and  energetic  in  carrying  out  the  plans  of  his  govern- 
ment— using  his  power  as  conscious  of  his"  accountability 
to  God,  he  was  ever  kind  to  the  suffering,  and  impartial  in 
the  execution  of  justice.  As  an  inspired  poet,  his  namo 
and  memory  will  ever  be  warmly  cherished  by  every  pious 


248  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

heart ;  and  as  a  worshipper  of  the  true  God,  he  was  stead- 
fast, sincere,  humble,  and  trustfuh  It  is  true,  he  sadl}^ 
fell,  but  grievously  did  he  suffer  for  it ;  and,  when  reproof 
of  his  sins  was  administered  by  the  prophet,  he  bowed 
before  God  in  the  most  unfeigned  penitence  and  humility, 
and,  in  broken-hearted  confession,  continued  his  suppli- 
cations until  he  obtained  an  abiding  sense  of  pardoning 
mercy. 


SECTION    VII. 


Solomon: — Intrigue  of  Adonijah — His  Death — Punishment  of  Abia- 
thar — Death  of  Joab — Extent  of  Solomon's  Dominions — His  Super- 
human Wisdom — Tested  in  the  Case  of  the  two  Women — General 
Prosperity  of  his  Kinp^dom — Description  of  Jerusalem  and  its  Vi- 
cinity—  its  Walls  and  Gardens  — The  Temple — Its  unparalleled 
Riches  and  Magnificence. 

David,  at  his  death,  left  the  kingdom  of  Israel  in  uni- 
versal peace  and  unparalleled  prosperity.  By  the  valor  of 
his  arms,  and  the  wisdom  of  his  government,  he  had  made 
all  the  surrounding  nations  either  his  tributaries  or  his 
allies ;  and  Solomon,  his  son,  therefore,  ascended  the 
throne  under  the  most  favorable  auspices.  In  addition 
to  this  enviable  condition  of  the  nation,  he  enjoyed  the 
advantage  of  having  been  publicly  designated  by  his  father 
as  his  successor ;  and  this  act  of  designation  had  not  only 
received  the  Divine  approbation,  but  had  afforded  universal 
satisfaction  to  the  people. 

The  restless  spirit  of  Adonijah  could  not,  however,  qui- 
etly submit  to  the  exaltation  of  his  younger  brother  over 
him ;  and  he,  therefore,  now  attempted  to  effect  by  art, 
that  which  he  had  failed  to  accomplish  more  openly,  be- 
fore his  father's  death.  With  this  view  he  addressed 
himself  to  Bathsheba,  the  mother  of  Solomon,  and  en- 
treated  her  to  ask  for  liim,  of  the  king,  Abishag,   the 


THE     KINGS.  249 

youthful  wife  of  his  father  David,  in  marriage.  Bath- 
sheba,  not  realizing  the  criminal  nature  and  object  of 
Adonijah's  request,  consented,  without  hesitation,  to  do  as 
he  desired  her ;  but  she  had  no  sooner  preferred  her  peti- 
tion to  the  king,  than  he  saw  its  treasonable  design,  and 
knew  that  so  bold  a  proceeding  must  have  originated  with 
Abiathar  and  Joab,  Adonijah's  chief  accomplices  in  his 
former  attempt  upon  the  throne.  Solomon,  therefore, 
indignantly  replied  to  his  mother,  "  Why  dost  thou  ask 
Abishag  the  Shunammite  for  Adonijah  ?  Ask  for  him  the 
kingdom  also,  for  he  is  mine  elder  brother,  God  do  so  to 
me,  and  more  also,  if  Adonijah  have  not  spoken  this  word 
against  his  own  life."  The  king,  therefore,  immediately 
dispatched  Benaiah,  the  captain  of  the  guards,  to  Adoni- 
jah, with  orders  to  put  him  instantly  to  death. 

Solomon,  having  thus  removed  Adonijah,  the  chief  trou- 
ble! of  his  throne,  out  of  the  way,  next  sent  for  Abiathar 
the  high-priest,  and  at  once  banished  him  from  both  the 
court  and  from  his  priestly  office  ;  saying  unto  him,  "  Get 
thee  to  Anathoth,  unto  thine  own  fields,  for  thou  art  wor- 
thy of  death ;  but  I  will  not,  at  this  time,  put  thee  to 
death,  because  thou  barest  the  Ark  of  the  Lord  God  be- 
fore David  my  father,  and  because  thou  hast  been  afflicted 
in  all  wherein  my  ftither  was  afflicted."  Joab,  aware  of 
his  own  participation  in  the  guilt  of  Adonijah  and  Abia- 
thar, well  knew  that  the  vengeance  of  the  king  would 
soon  overtake  him  also ;  and  he,  therefore,  immediately 
"  fled  unto  the  Tabernacle  of  the  Lord,  and  caught  hold 
on  the  horns  of  the  Altar."  This  sacred  retreat  was 
not,  however,  sufficient  to  protect  him ;  for  Solomon 
no  sooner  heard  where  he  was,  than  he  sent  Benaiah  to 
bring  him  thence  and  publicly  execute  him :  and,  as  Joab 
refused  to  leave  the  sanctuary,  he  was  slain  by  Benaiah  in 
that  sacred  place,  and  afterwards  "  buried  in  his  own 
11* 


2,50  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

house,  in  the  wilderness."  Thus  ignobly  fell  David's 
bravest  and  most  distinguished  general ;  and  had  his  vir- 
tues equalled  his  military  genius,  he  would  still  be  grate- 
fully remembered  as  the  chief  supporter  of  his  illustrious 
monarch's  throne.  His  place  as  commander-in-chief  of 
the  army  was  filled  by  the  faithful  Benaiah,  while  Zadok 
was  made  high-priest  in  the  room  of  Abiathar. 

Having  thus  removed  the  leaders  of  the  faction  that 
opposed  his  succession  to  the  crown,  Solomon's  throne  was 
established  in  peace.  His  kingdom  was  of  vast  dimen- 
sions, extending  "  even  from  the  border  of  Egypt  to  the 
river  Euphrates,  and  from  Dan  to  Beer-sheba ;"  and  so 
numerous  were  the  people,  and  their  condition  so  com- 
pletely happy,  that,  "  Judah  and  Israel  were  many  as  the 
sand  which  is  by  the  sea  in  multitude,  eating  and  drinking 
and  making  merry  ;  and  every  man  dwelt  safely  under  his 
vine  and  under  his  fig-tree."  To  render  this  peace  and 
prosperity  permanent,  Solomon  contracted  an  alliance  with 
Vaphres,  king  of  Egypt,  whose  daughter  he  "married  and 
brought  into  the  city  of  David."  This  foreign  alliance  of 
the  youthful  king  has  often  been,  by  different  commenta- 
tors, severely  censured ;  but,  as  we  find  the  act  nowhere 
condemned  in  Scripture,  we  have  a  right  to  presume  that, 
before  Solomon  espoused  the  Egyptian  princess,  she  had 
abandoned  the  religion  of  her  ancestors,  and  embraced  the 
Israelitish  faith. 

In  the  midst  of  all  this  external  prosperity,  Solomon 
remained  faithful  in  his  attachment  to  the  true  faith,  and 
to  those  solemn  injunctions  which  his  dying  father  had 
laid  upon  him — "  He  loved  the  Lord,  walking  in  the  sta- 
tutes of  David  his  father,  and  sacrificed  and  burnt  incense 
in  high  places."  Of  these  "  high  places"  Gibeon  was  the 
most  remarkable ;  for  there  the  Tabernacle  and  the  brazen 
altar  still  remained,  though  the  Ark  of  the  Covenant  had 


THE     KINGS.  2^51 

been  brought  to  Jerusalem.  Thither  the  young  king, 
attended  by  all  the  chief  princes  of  the  kingdom,  now  re- 
paired, and  there  offered  a  solemn  and  magnificent  sacri- 
fice unto  the  Lord,  of  a  "thousand  burnt-oflPerings." 
With  this  expression  of  piety,  the  Almighty  was  so  well 
pleased,  that,  during  the  following  night,  he  appeared  to 
Solomon  in  a  vision  or  dream,  and  graciously  promised 
to  bestow  upon  him  whatever  he  might  most  desire ;  say- 
ing unto  him,  "  Ask  what  I  shall  give  thee."  To  this 
off"er  of  Divine  favor,  Solomon  at  once  replied,  "  Thou  hast 
showed  unto  David  thy  great  mercy,  according  as  he 
walked  before  thee  in  truth  and  in  righteousness,  and  in 
uprightness  of  heart  with  thee.  And  now,  0  Lord,  my 
God,  thou  hast  made  thy  servant  king,  instead  of  David 
my  father ;  and  I  am  but  a  little  child :  I  know  not  how 
to  go  out  or  come  in.  And  thy  servant  is  in  the  midst  of 
thy  people  which  thou  hast  chosen;  a  great  people,  that 
cannot  be  numbered  or  counted  for  multitude.  Give, 
therefore,  thy  servant  an  understanding  heart  to  judge 
thy  people,  that  I  may  discern  between  good  and  bad; 
for  who  is  able  to  judge  this  thy  so  great  people?" 

This  petition  of  Solomon  was  so  peculiarly  acceptable 
to  the  Almighty,  that  God  immediately  answered  him, 
saying,  "  Because  this  was  in  thine  heart,  and  thou  hast 
not  asked  riches,  wealth,  or  honor,  nor  the  life  of  thine 
enemies ;  neither  yet  hast  asked  long  life,  but  hast  asked 
wisdom  and  knowledge  for  thyself,  that  thou  mayest  judge 
my  people,  over  whom  I  have  made  thee  king;  behold  I 
have  done  according  to  thy  words :  I  have  given  thee  a 
wise  and  underetanding  heart,  and  I  will  give  thee  riches, 
and  wealth,  and  honor,  such  as  none  of  the  kings  have 
had  that  have  been  before  thee,  neither  shall  there  any 
after  thee  have  the  like.  And  if  thou  wilt  walk  in  my 
ways,  to  keep  my  statutes  and  my  commandments,  as  thy 


252  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

father  David  did  walk,  then  I  will  lengthen  thy  days." 
Having  received  this  answer  to  his  prayer,  Solomon  awoke 
from  his  dream  or  vision,  and,  returning  to  Jerusalem,  he 
repaired  to  the  Ark  of  the  Covenant,  and  there  offered  up 
abundance  of  burnt-offerings  to  the  Lord ;  soon  aftei 
■which,  he  entertained  all  his  servants  in  a  general  feast. 

The  rejoicings  of  the  feast  had  scarcely  ceased,  before 
Solomon's  superhuman  wisdom  was  severely  tested.  Two 
women,  each  of  whom  having  an  infant  child,  were  dwell- 
ing together  in  the  same  house.  The  child  of  one  of 
them  having,  through  the  neglect  of  its  mother,  died,  the 
mother  arose  at  midnight,  and  went  and  exchanged  the 
dead  body  of  her  own  child  for  the  living  child  of  her 
companion.  The  real  mother  of  the  living  child  soon 
after  brought  her  complaint  before  the  king,  and  at  his 
hands  claimed  her  son ;  whilst  the  mother  of  the  other 
child  persisted  in  denying  that  any  exchange  of  the  children 
had  been  made.  As  no  evidence  existed  by  which  the 
controversy  could  be  decided,  Solomon  perceived  that  the 
only  way  to  determine  the  question  was  to  appeal  to  the 
instinctive  affection  of  a  mother  for  her  offspring.  He, 
therefore,  said  unto  one  of  his  servants,  "Bring  a  sword, 
and  divide  the  living  child  in  two,  and  give  half  to  the  one 
and  half  to  the  other."  This  order  was  no  sooner  given, 
than  the  heart  of  the  real  mother  answered  to  the  appeal ; 
and  she  said,  "  0  my  lord,  give  her  the  living  child,  and  in 
no  wise  slay  it ;"  whilst  the  other  woman  was  quite  willing 
that  the  child  should  be  divided.  This  wise  device  of  the 
king  having  thus  entirely  succeeded,  he  at  once  gave  sen- 
tence in  favor  of  the  true  mother,  saying,  "  Give  her  the 
living  child,  and  in  no  wise  slay  it;  she  is  the  mother 
thereof."  The  settlement  of  this  singular  controversy  pre- 
sented so  remarkable  an  instance  of  the  king's  great 
sagacity  and  wisdom,  that  the    people    thenceforth  con- 


THE     KINGS.  253 

sidered  him  as  a  prince  entirely  governed  by  Divine 
impulse. 

The  wisdom  of  Solomon,  and  the  great  propriety  of  his 
conduct  in  the  administration  of  public  affairs,  soon  spread 
a  happy  influence  over  the  whole  of  his  dominions,  ex- 
tending even  to  the  remotest  of  his  subjects.  All  Judah 
and  Israel  lived  in  the  greatest  security ;  and  all  the  sur- 
rounding nations  either  paid  their  king  tribute,  or  were 
his  friends  and  allies.  He  ruled  over  all  the  countries 
and  kingdoms  from  the  Nile  to  the  Euphrates;  em- 
bracing also,  within  his  government,  an  entire  range  of 
provinces  beyond  the  latter  river ;  and  the  magnificence 
in  which  he  lived  far  surpassed  that  of  either  of  his 
own  immediate  predecessors,  or  any  of  his  contemporary 
monarchs.  Jerusalem,  his  capital,  had  also  so  nearly 
reached  the  height  of  its  splendor,  as  to  need  only  the 
erection  of  the  contemplated  Temple  for  Divine  worship, 
to  render  it  "  the  perfection  of  beauty,  the  joy  of  the 
whole  earth." 

This  famous  city  was  built  upon  two  hills,  and  com- 
passed round  about  with  mountains.  The  soil  upon  which 
it  stood  was  barren  and  stony ;  but  the  country  adjacent 
was  well-watered,  having  the  fountains  of  Gihon  and 
Siloam,  and  the  brook  Kidron  in  its  midst.  Jebus,  the 
ancient  city,  was  seated  on  a  hill  towards  the  south ;  and 
the  new  city,  or  city  of  David,  stood  north  of  it,  and  was 
built  upon  one  of  the  elevations  of  the  Zion  range  of 
mountains.  This  city  contained  the  royal  palace,  built 
with  great  magnificence  by  David,  in  the  early  part  of  his 
reign,  and  also  Mount  Moriah,  upon  which  the  Temple 
afterwards  stood.  Here,  also,  Solomon  had  already  erected 
a  new  palace  for  his  queen,  the  daughter  of  the  king  of 
Egypt. 

Between  the  city  of  Jebus  and  the  city  of  David,  62- 


254  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

tended  the  valley  of  Millo,  whicli  for  some  time  separated 
tliose  two  cities ;  but  this  space  was  afterwards  filled  up  by 
David  and  Solomon,  and  thus  the  two  cities  became  united 
into  one.  In  the  midst  of  this  \'alley,  or  more  properly 
in  the  city  of  David,  bordering  upon  it,  stood  the  house 
Millo,  the  design  or  use  of  which  is  no  where  mentioned. 
As  the  word  itself  is  derived  from  a  Hebrew  root,  which 
signifies  to  he  full,  the  probability  is  that  it  was  a  large, 
capacious  hall,  designed  for  the  senate  house,  or  for  some 
other  public  meetings.  That  it  was  a  building  of  a  public 
nature,  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  when  Solomon,  in  the 
fifteenth  verse  of  the  ninth  chapter  of  the  First  Book  of 
Kings,  enumerates  the  objects  for  which  a  tax  was  to  be 
levied  upon  his  subjects,  he  assigno  as  his  reason,  "  that 
he  might  build  the  House  of  the  Lord,  and  his  own  house, 
and  Millo,  and  the  walls  of  Jerusalem. 

The  fountains  which  refreshed  Jerusalem  were  Siloam 
and  Gihon.  The  fountain  of  Siloam  was  on  the  east  side 
of  the  city,  near  the  brook  Kidron,  and  rose  immediately 
beneath  the  city  walls.  It  was  sometimes  called,  as  in  the 
Book  of  Joshua,  in  Samuel,  and  in  Kings,  the  fountain  of 
Enrogel,  or  the  Fuller's  fountain.  Some  travellers  assert 
that  the  waters  of  this  fountain  are  brackish  and  unpalata- 
ble ;  but  the  prophet  Isaiah  seems  to  convey  a  different 
idea  when,  in  uttering  the  complaint  against  the  Israelites, 
he  says,  "  forasmuch  as  this  people  refuseth  the  waters  of 
Shiloah,  which  go  softly."  And  Jerome  expressly  informs  us 
that  "  the  waters  of  the  fountain  of  Siloam  made  the  valley 
of  gardens  and  plantations  through  which  they  ran,  pleas- 
ant and  delightful."  The  fountain  of  Gihon,  which  very 
probably  sprang  from  an  adjacent  hill  of  the  same  name, 
was  in  the  west  side  of  Jerusalem ;  and  the  waters  of  both 
these  fountains  being,  for  the  convenience  of  the  inhabit- 
ants, conveyed  through  the  various  parts  of  the  city,  and 


THE     KINGS.  2Si$ 

distributed  into  pools  ;  to  one  of  wliich  allusion  is  made  as 
"The  Pool  of  Siloam." 

The  brook  Kidron,  another  remarkable  feature  of  the 
vicinity  of  Jerusalem,  was  also  on  the  east  side  of  the  city, 
and  ran  through  the  valley  of  Jehoshaphat,  between  the 
city  and  Mount  Olivet.  This  brook  usually  contained 
but  a  small  quantity  of  water,  and  was  sometimes  quite 
dry ;  but  in  the  time  of  sudden  and  copious  rains,  which 
were  very  common  in  that  country,  it  swelled  to  a  large 
stream,  and  ran  with  great  impetuosity.  On  such  occa- 
sions it  was  of  important  service  to  the  city,  as  it  then 
received  the  contents  of  the  common  sewers,  and  carried 
them  into  the  Dead  Sea. 

The  two  principal  mountains  in  the  vicinity  of  Jerusa- 
lem were  Mount  Olivet,  and  Mount  Calvary.  Mount 
Olivet  was  situated  east  of  the  city,  and  was  separated 
from  it  by  the  Valley  of  Jehoshaphat,  and  the  brook  Kid- 
ron. It  was  distant  about  a  Sabbath  day's  journey,  or 
one  mile  from  the  city,  and  consisted  of  three  different 
summits  or  j^eaks.  On  the  south  summit,  Solomon,  after 
he  allowed  himself  to  be  corrupted  by  his  strange  wives, 
built  temples  to  the  gods  of  the  Ammonites  and  the  Moab- 
ites  ;  and  it  was  thence  called  the  Mount  of  Corruption. 
The  north,  which  was  the  highest  summit,  was  commonly 
called  the  Mount  of  Galilee ;  but  the  central  summit  is 
more  sacredly  memorable  than  either  of  the  others,  because 
it  was  from  thence  that  Christ,  after  his  crucifixion,  ascended 
into  Heaven.  Mount  Calvary,  which  probably  derives 
its  name  from  its  resemblance  in  form  to  a  human  skull, 
was  situated  west  of  Jerusalem,  and  just  without  the  gates 
of  the  city.  It  was  here  that  Christ  was  ignominiously 
crucified;  and  from  this  circumstance  we  may  presume, 
that  it  was  the  ordinary  place  of  execution  of  criminals  of 
every  description. 


25G  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

The  princip.al  vailies  adjacent  to  Jerusalem,  were  the 
Valley  of  Jehoshapliat,  before  mentioned ;  the  Valley  of 
Hinnom ;  and  the  Valley  of  Shaveth,  or  the  King's  Dale. 
The  Valley  of  Hinnom  lay  south  of  the  city,  and  was 
only  remarkable  for  the  barbarous  and  cruel  worship  of 
Moloch,  in  which  parents  caused  their  children  to  "  pass 
through  fire,  to  that  grim  idol."  This  valley  was  also 
called  Tophet,  from  the  Hebrew  word  Toph,  which,  in 
signification,  is  equivalent  to  timpannm  in  Latin,  or  timbrel 
in  English.  Here,  during  the  reign  of  idolatry,  the  sound 
of  the  timbrel  was  perpetually  heard,  that  the  shrieks  of 
the  children  offered  in  sacrifice  might  be  drowned  ;  and  in 
this  place  there  was  afterwards  kept  up  a  perpetual  fire, 
to  consume  the  oftals  and  carcases  of  beasts  brought  thither 
from  the  sacrifices  of  the  Temple ;  hence  the  Saviour,  in 
allusion  to  this  circumstance,  uses  Gehenna,  or  the  Valley 
of  Hinnom,  as  a  type  of  Hell.  The  Valley  of  Sha\'eth,  or 
the  King's  Dale,  was  situated  to  the  south-east  of  the  city, 
and  formed  a  remarkable  contrast  to  the  Valley  of  Hinnom. 
It  w^as  the  place  to  which  the  king  ordinarily  resorted  for 
exercise  and  recreation ;  and  being  immediately  connected 
with  the  palace,  it  was  made  to  abound  in  everything 
luxurious  and  beautiful.  The  King's  Dale  is  also  remarka- 
ble for  being  the  place  where  Melchizedeck  met  the  patri- 
arch Abraham,  in  his  return  from  the  slaughter  of  Chedor- 
laoraar. 

The  walls  of  Jerusalem  were  of  great  strength,  and 
upon  them  were  placed  numerous  battlements  for  the  de- 
fense of  the  city.  These  walls  faced  exactly  east,  west, 
north,  and  south ;  and  the  entrance  through  them  into  the 
city  was  by  numerous  gates,  each  of  which  received  its 
designation  according  to  the  purpose  to  which  it  was  ap- 
propriated, or  to  the  place  to  which  it  was  adjacent.  Tfie 
Gate  of  t/ie  Valley,  on  the  east  side  of  the  city,  opened 


THE     KINGS.  257 

upon  the  Valley  of  Jehosbaphat,  and  the  way  from  it  led 
over  the  brook  Kidron,  to  Mount  Olivet.  Tlie  Water  Gate, 
on  the  same  side,  was  the  passage-way  through  which  the 
aqueducts  led  from  the  fountains  without  the  wall  to 
the  various  parts  of  the  city  within.  The  Gate  of  the  Foun- 
tain was  south  of  the  Water  Gate,  and  received  its  name 
from  its  situation,  which  was  near  the  fountain  of  Siloam. 
Tlie  Gate  of  Ephraim  was  on  the  north  side  of  the  city,  and 
opened  upon  the  road  which  led  to  that  part  of  the  coun- 
try where  the  tribe  of  Ephraim  dwelt.  The  High  Gate  was 
probably  the  principal  gate  of  the  city,  and  was  situated 
in  the  vicinity  of  the  royal  palace  and  the  Temple.  Be- 
sides these  gates,  there  were  numerous  others — such  as  the 
Horse  Gate,  the  Sheep  Gate,  and  the  Fish  Gate,  all  of  which 
received  their  names  from  the  various  markets  to  which 
they  led. 

Jerusalem  was,  also,  surrounded  by  vast  and  magnificent 
gardens,  and  in  the  various  hillsides  without  the  city  were 
numerous  subterraneous  chambers  used  for  sepulchral 
purposes.  The  Sepulchres  of  the  Kings  were,  however, 
situated  within  the  city  of  David,  and  were  wonderfully 
grand.  These  sepulchres  were  cut  into  solid  marble  rock, 
and  were,  throughout,  as  exact  in  their  forms  and  propor- 
tions as  though  they  had  been  constructed  of  the  most 
exquisite  masonry.  An  entry  from  without  led  into  a 
court  about  twenty-six  feet  square ;  and  on  the  left  side  of 
this  court  was  a  portico,  twenty-seven  feet  long  and  twelve 
broad,  supported  by  rows  of  columns,  all  cut  into  the 
same  solid  mass  of  rock.  From  this  portico  a  passage  led 
into  a  large  chamber,  twenty-four  feet  square,  beyond 
which  there  were  six  others,  all  constructed  in  a  manner 
similar  to  those  already  described,  excepting  the  two  last, 
to  enter  which  there  was  a  descent  of  six  steps.  In  each 
of  these  chambers  but  the  first,  stone  coflSns  were  placed 


258  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREW  S. 

in  niches ;  and  there  rested  the  remains  of  many  of  the 
kings  of  Judali,  from  the  time  of  David  till  long  after  the 
destruction  of  Jerusalem  by  the  Babylonians. 

But  all  this  grandeur  and  magnificence,  and  all  these 
>Yorks  of  utility,  sink  into  comparative  insignificance,  when 
compared  with  the  Temple  which  Solomon,  now  in  the 
fourth  year  of  his  reign,  began  to  build.  For  the  erection 
of  this  building,  his  father  David,  as  we  have  already  seen, 
had  made  the  most  ample  provisions  ;  and  the  young  king, 
therefore,  as  soon  as  he  had  established  his  throne  and 
settled  the  order  of  his  government,  prepared  to  carry  the 
design  of  his  father  into  execution.  To  facilitate  this 
object,  he  entered  into  a  treaty  with  Hiram,  the  son  and 
successor  of  that  king  of  Tyre  from  whom  his  father 
David,  had  received  material  aid  in  erecting  his  own  royal 
palace.  By  this  treaty,  Solomon  obtained  the  assistance 
of  Hiram's  subjects,  in  preparing  the  materials  for  the 
building;  and  .as  the  Tyrians  were  the  most  skillful  arti- 
sans then  known,  the  direction  of  all  the  operations  was 
readily  yielded  to  them.  To  assist  the  Tyrians  in  obtain- 
ing the  timber  for  the  building  from  Mount  Lebanon, 
Solomon  appointed  thirty  thousand  of  his  own  subjects, 
ten  thousand  of  whom  were  employed  for  this  purpose 
during  each  successive  month,  until  the  whole  work  was 
completed.  In  addition  to  these,  seventy  thousand 
Canaanitish  proselytes  were  employed  to  carry  burthens, 
eighty  tliousand  to  cut  stone  out  of  the  quarries,  and  three 
tliousand  six  hundred  as  overseers.  To  finish  the  in- 
ner part  of  the  Temple,  and  to  construct  the  more  deli- 
cate and  costly  vessels,  Hiram  sent  Solomon  a  very  skill- 
ful artist,  of  his  own  name,  whose  mother  was  of  the  tribe 
of  Dan,  but  liis  father  was  a  Tyrian.  Under  the  direction 
of  this  extraordinary  genius,  all  the  curious  furniture  of  the 
Temple,  whether  wrought  in  gold,  or  silver,  or  brass,  or 


THE     KINGS.  259 

iron,  or  whether  made   of  linen,  of  tapestry,  or  of  em* 
broidery,  were  both  designed  and  executed. 

The  spot  upon  which  the  Temple  was  built,  was,  as  we 
have  before  observed.  Mount  Moriah  ;  and  the  foundation, 
facing  east,  west,  north,  and  south,  and  forming  an  exact 
square,  was  one  thousand  four  hundred  and  sixty  feet  in 
length  on  each  side.  This  foundation  was,  according 
to  Josephus,  "  laid  prodigiously  deep,  and  the  stones  were 
not  only  of  the  largest  size,  but  hard  and  firm  enough  to 
endure  all  weathers,  and  be  proof  against  the  worm.  Be- 
sides this,  they  were  so  morticed  into  one  another,  and  so 
wedged  into  the  rock,  that  the  strength  and  curiosity  of 
the  basis  were  not  less  admirable  than  the  intended  super- 
structure, the  one  being  in  every  respect  adapted  to  the 
other."  This  foundation  was  carried  up  the  sides  of  the  moun- 
tain to  the  height  of  six  hundred  and  eight  feet,  and  was 
surmounted  by  a  wall  on  each  side  eleven  feet  high,  ajid  of 
equal  thickness.  From  the  top  of  this  wall,  the  view  of  the 
city  to  the  westward  was  grand  and  imposing  in  the  extreme. 

The  base  of  the  Temple  was  square,  and  was  eleven 
hundred  feet  in  length  on  each  side.  Between  the  outer 
wall  and  the  Temple  were  a  number  of  buildings,  appro- 
priated to  various  purposes  ;  and  these  were  surrounded 
with  porticos,  supported  by  marble  columns  forty  feet 
high.  At  the  entrance  of  the  Temple  was  the  first  court, 
or  the  Court  of  the  Gentiles.  This  court  was  ninety-one 
feet  wide,  and  elegantly  paved  with  marble  in  mosaic ;  it 
was  also,  like  the  adjacent  building,  surrounded  with  por- 
ticos, supported  by  magnificent  marble  columns,  and  was 
exclusively  appropriated  to  the  use  of  the  Gentile  converts. 
The  court  corresponding  to  this  in  Herod's  Temple,  was 
the  part  of  the  building  which  the  Jews,  by  making  it  a 
place  of  traffic,  profaned,  and  whence  Christ  indignantly 
drove  tlie  money-changers. 


260  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

The  second  court  of  the  Temple  was  the  Court  of  tJiQ 
Israelite'^.  This  court  was  separated  from  the  Court  of  the 
Gentiles  by  a  square  wall,  two  hundred  and  thirty  feet  in 
length  in  each  direction,  and  was  entered  by  four  different 
gates,  one  on  each  side,  from  each  of  which  a  flight  of 
seven  steps  ascended  to  a  variegated  marble  pavement,  far 
more  rich  and  beautiful  than  the  pavement  of  the  Court  of 
the  Gentiles.  The  Court  of  the  Israelites  was  one  hundred 
and  sixty-six  feet  square ;  and  for  the  accommodation  of 
male  and  female  worshippers,  it  was  divided  into  two 
parts,  by  a  low  wall  passing  through  the  centre.  Here 
a  magnificent  throne,  which  the  king  ascended  when  he 
visited  the  Temple,  was  placed  ;  and  it  was  in  this  court, 
the  common  place  of  daily  offerings,  that  the  touching 
incident  of  the  widow's  mite  occurred. 

The  third  court  of  the  Temple  was  the  Court  of  the 
Priests.  This  court  was  also  one  hundred  and  sixty  feet 
square,  and  was  surrounded  by  a  wall,  through  which  there 
were  entrances  or  gateways,  on  the  north,  south,  and  east 
sides  only.  The  ascent  to  this  court  from  the  Court  of  the 
Israelites,  was  by  a  flight  of  eight  steps ;  and  the  couri 
itself  was  surrounded  on  every  side  by  cloisters,  and 
apartments  for  the  accommodation  of  those  priests  who 
were  in  immediate  attendance  upon  the  service  of  the  Tem- 
ple. This  court  could  be  entered  by  the  priests  only,  and  in 
it  was  placed  the  Altar  of  Burnt-offerings,  containing  ten 
brazen  lavers,  each  standing  upon  a  base  over  seven  feet 
square,  and  five  and  a  half  feet  high.  In  these  lavers  were 
cleansed  the  victims  ofl'ered  in  Sacrifice ;  and  on  the  bor- 
ders of  their  bases  were  carved  images  of  lions,  oxen,  and 
cherubim,  which  were  all  master-pieces  of  art.  Here, 
also,  stood  the  Molten  Sea — an  immense  brazen  laver,  nine 
and  a  half  feet  high,  and  nineteen  feet  in  diameter,  and 
used  only  for  the  cleansing  of  the  priests.     This  sea  con  • 


THE     KINGS.  261 

tained  two  thousand  baths,  and  was  supported  by  twelve 
brazen  oxen,  three  facing  in  each  direction,  east,  west, 
north,  and  south.  "  It  was  an  hand-breadth  thick,  and 
the  brim  was  wrought  with  flowers  of  lilies:  and  below 
the  brim,  it  was  enriched  with  varied  devices." 

On  the  west  side  of  the  Altar  of  Burnt-offerings  was  an 
ascent  of  twelve  steps  that  led  to  the  Temple  proper, 
which  consisted  of  three  parts,  the  Porch,  the  Sanctuai^, 
and  the  Holy  of  Holies.  The  Porch  -was  twenty-two 
feet  long,  and  thirty-six  and  a  half  feet  broad ;  and  at  its 
entrance  stood  the  two  famous  pillars,  Jachin  and  Boaz, 
which  signified  that  God  alone  was  the  support  of  the  Ternple. 
In  this  apartment  were  suspended  votive  offerings,  and  the 
entrance  to  it  was  twenty-five  and  a  half  feet  wide.  The 
Sanctuary  of  the  Temple  was  sixty-six  and  a  half  feet 
long,  and  thirty-six  and  a  half  feet  broad,  and  was  sepa- 
rated from  the  Porch  by  a  party-colored  Babylonish  veil, 
mysteriously  denoting  the  universe.  The  Sanctuary  was 
the  ordinary  place  of  sacrifice,  and  contained  the  Altar  of 
Incense,  the  Table  of  Shew-Bread,  and  the  five  Golden  Can- 
dlesticks. 

The  Holy  of  Holies  was  exactly  thirty-six  and  a  half 
feet  square,  and  was  separated  from  the  Sanctuary  by  a  rich 
double  veil.  It  was  lined  throughout  with  gold,  and  con- 
tained in  its  centre  the  Ark  of  tJie  Covenant,  in  which  were 
placed  the  two  tables  of  stone  upon  which  God  himself  had 
inscribed  the  Ten  Commandments.  Apparently  to  guard 
this  precious  treasure,  two  cherubim,  made  of  olive-wood 
and  covered  with  gold,  were  placed,  one  on  either  side,  the 
height  of  each  of  w^hich  was  nearly  twenty  feet,  and  with 
wings  so  expanded,  that  whilst  the  outer  wings  touched 
the  side  walls  of  the  apartment,  the  inner  met  directly  over 
the  centre  of  the  Ark.  The  Ark  itself  was  three  feet  nine 
inches  long,   two  feet  three  inches  wide,   and   three  feet 


262  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS, 

three  inches  high.  It  was  made  of  wood  and  overlaid 
with  gold,  excepting  the  Mercy  Seat,  which  consisted  of 
a  solid  golden  slab.  Upon  the  centre  of  the  Mercy  Seat 
were  placed  two  small  cherubim,  between  the  wings  of 
which  rested  the  Shechinah,  oi^  Cloud  of  the  Divine  Presence; 
and  hence  the  beautiful  expression  of  the  prophet,  "  Jehovah 
dwelt  beneath  the  Cherubim."  No  other  light  was  ad- 
mitted into  the  Holy  of  Holies  than  that  which  emanated 
from  the  fire  originally  kindled  from  Heaven,  and  which 
burned  perpetually  upon  the  sacred  altar ;  and  here  no 
step  ever  intruded  save  that  of  the  high-priest  alone,  and 
he  even  was  permitted  to  enter  the  hallowed  place  but 
once  a  year. 

The  foundation  of  the  Temple  was  laid  in  the  month  of 
March,  1012  A.  C,  and  the  whole  work  was  completed  in 
October,  1005  A.  C,  having  occupied,  in  the  building, 
just  seven  and  a  half  years.  The  cost  of  the  materials 
and  the  work  was,  according  to  Josephus,  sixty  millions 
of  pounds  sterling ;  but,  according  to  Arbuthnot's  table  of 
the  valuation  of  ancient  coins  and  currencies,  to  the  un- 
precedented sum  of  six  hundred  millions.  The  walls  of 
the  Temple  were  of  white  marble,  and  the  blocks  of  which 
they  were  composed  were  so  skillfully  joined  together  that 
no  seam  was  visible.  The  beams,  the  posts,  the  doors,  and 
all  the  other  wood-work,  were  of  cedar,  olive,  and  fiir,  and 
were  coated  with  gold,  and  fastened  with  golden  nails. 
The  roof  was  of  olive-wood,  and  was  covered  with  massive 
sheets  of  gold,  polished  with  such  brilliancy  that  when  the 
rays  of  the  sun  rested  upon  it,  the  natural  eye  could  not 
bear  the  sight 

The  various  vessels  and  other  furniture  required  for  the 
service  of  the  Temple  were  almost  incredibly  numerous. 
Of  these  vessels,  one  hundred  and  forty  thousand  were  made 
of  gold,  and  one  hundred  and  thirty-four  thousand  of  sil- 


THE     KINGS.  263 

ver.  Besides  these,  there  were  ten  thousand  vestments  of 
silk  with  purple  girdles  for  the  priests,  two  millions  of  purple 
vestments  for  the  singers,  two  hundred  thousand  trumpets, 
and  forty  thousand  other  musical  instruments. 

All  the  vast  work  of  the  Temple,  from  the  smallest  block 
of  marble  to  the  magnificent  brazen  basin,  was  wrought  at 
a  distance  from  the  spot  where  the  building  w^as  erected ; 
and  when  they  were  brought  together  so  perfectly  were 
they  adapted  to  each  other,  that  not  even  the  sound  of  a 
hammer  was  heard  in  putting  each  in  its  appropriate  place. 
"The  whole  frame,"  says  Josephus,  "was  raised  upon 
stones,  polished  to  the  highest  degree  of  perfection,  and  so 
artificially  put  together,  that  there  was  no  joint  to  be  dis- 
covered, no  sign  of  any  working-tools  being  upon  them ; 
but  the  whole  looked  more  like  the  work  of  Providence 
and  Nature,  than  the  production  of  art  and  human  inven- 
tion. As  for  the  inside,  whatever  carving,  gilding,  em- 
broidery, rich  silks,  and  fine  linen  could  do — of  these  there 
was  the  greatest  profusion.  The  very  fioor  of  the  Tem- 
ple was  overlaid  with  beaten  gold ;  and  every  part,  even 
to  the  posts  of  the  doors,  was  gold  upon  gold.  In  a  word, 
the  Temple  was  gold  all  over,  and  nothing  was  wanting, 
either  within  or  without,  that  could  contribute  to  the  glory 
and  magnificence  of  the  work." 


SECTION   VIII 


Solomon  :— The  Dedication  of  the  Temple  to  Divine  Service — Solomon's 
Solemn  and  Impressive  Prayer  on  the  Occasion — His  Blessing  upon 
the  People — His  new  Palaces — Celebrity  of  his  Wealth  and  Wisdom^ 
Visit  of  the  Queen  of  Sheba  to  his  Court — Etfect  of  Solomon's  Splendor 
and  Magniticence  upon  her — Solomon  led  into  Idolatry  by  stran^^e 
Wives— Its  Consequences— His  Repentance  and  Reformation — His 
Death  and  Character. 

The  Temple  being  finished,  Solomon,  in  order  to  cele- 
brate the  dedication  of  it  to  the  Almighty  with  the  greater 


264  THE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

magnificence,  postponed  the  ceremony  of  dedication  until 
the  followinfr  year,  which  was  to  be  a  year  of  jubilee,  and 
during  which  vast  numbers  of  the  peo})le,  from  all  parts  of 
the  kingdom,  repaired  to  Jerusalem.  To  insure  the  attend- 
ance of  the  most  eminent  of  his  subjects  on  this  august 
occasion,  he  sent  messengers  to  all  the  elders  of  Israel,  to 
the  princes  of  the  different  tribes,  and  to  the  head  of  each 
family,  directing  them  to  repair  to  Jerusalem  at  the  tiae 
appointed,  which  immediately  preceded  the  Feast  of  Taber- 
nacles. 

This  great  feast  lasted  eight  days,  and  was  instituted 
and  regularly  observed,  in  order  to  preserve  the  remem- 
brance of  the  dwelling  of  the  Israelites  in  temporary  Taber- 
nacles daring  their  sojourn  in  the  wilderness.  Through- 
out the  whole  of  the  celebration,  the  people  dwelt  in  the 
open  air  in  tents,  or  booths,  made  of  the  boughs  of  trees, 
in  the  form  of  bowers  ;  and  the  time  was  passed  in  offering 
public  sacrifices  and  singing  in  their  synagogues  their 
hosannas.  During  these  exercises  the  people  carried  in 
their  hands  branches  of  palm-trees,  olives,  citrons,  myrtles, 
and  willows,  tied  together  with  gold  or  silver  threads,  or 
with  ribbons.  But  of  all  the  ceremonies  attending  this 
feast,  the  libation^  or  ]Jou?-iiig  out  of  ivater,  was  the  most 
remarkable.  The  water  used  for  this  purpose  w'as  drawn 
by  a  priest  from  the  pool  of  Siloam,  and  after  being  mixed 
with  wine,  was,  at  the  time  of  the  morning  service,  poured 
upon  the  altar,  the  people,  meantime,  singing  with  joyful 
exultation.  With  joij  shall  we  draw  water  out  of  the  icells 
of  salvation.  The  whole  of  this  festival  was  designed  to 
commemorate  the  favor  of  the  Almighty  to  his  jjeople 
while  they  dwelt  in  tents  in  the  wilderness,  and  to  remind 
them  of  their  short  and  pilgrim  state  here  on  earth. 

The  Feast  of  Tabernacles  having  closed,  and  all 
things  being  now  in  readiness,  the  cer«monv  of  dedication 


THE     KINGS.  265 

commenced  on  the  eighth  day  of  the  seventh  month,  which 
corresponds  with  the  latter  part  of  October.  The  cere- 
mony opened  with  a  grand  and  solemn  procession,  in  the 
midst  of  which  the  priests  carried  the  Ark  to  the  Temple, 
and  placed  it  in  the  centre  of  the  Holy  of  Holies,  between 
the  two  golden  cherubim,  by  whose  overshadowing  wings 
the  sacred  vessel  was  apparently  screened.  The  king  him  • 
self,  accompanied  by  all  his  chief  officers,  and  all  the  elders 
of  Israel,  marched  before  the  Ark,  and  were  followed  by  a 
large  number  of  priests  and  Levites,  singing  appropriate 
canticles,  and  playing  upon  numerous  instruments.  The 
Ark  was  followed  by  another  band  of  singers  and  players, 
accompanied  by  other  priests  bearing  the  golden  candle- 
sticks, the  Altar  of  Incense,  and  other  sacred  utensils  of 
the  sanctuary;  and  the  whole  procession  closed  with  a 
select  band  bearing  that  Tabernacle  of  the  Congregation 
which  Moses  had  caused  to  be  built  in  the  wilderness,  and 
which  was  now  to  be  deposited  in  the  treasury  of  the 
Temple.  As  the  procession  passed  in,  the  priests  offered 
a  vast  number  of  sacrifices ;  and  while  those  who  bore  the 
Ark  of  the  Covenant  were  placing  it  in  the  Holy  of  Holies, 
the  air  rang  with  the  sound  of  trumpets  and  the  voices  of 
the  Levites,  singing,  with  rapturous  delight,  successive 
stanzas,  the  burthen  of  which  was,  "  Give  thanks  unto 
the  Lord,  for  he  is  good  ;  for  his  mercy  endureth  for- 
ever." 

The  priests  had  no  sooner  placed  the  Ark  in  the  Holy 
of  Holies,  than  the  whole  Temple  was  filled  with  a  miracu- 
lous cloud,  "  so  that  they  could  not  stand  to  minister,  by  • 
reason  of  the  cloud,  for  the  glory  of  the  Lord  had  filled 
the  house  of  God."  When  Solomon  beheld  this  wonderful 
appearance,  he  was  assured  that  the  Almighty  had  accepted 
Lis  offering  of  a  dwelling-place  ;  and  he,  therefore,  pros- 
4ratx3d  himself  upon  the  ground  in  the  Divine  presence, 
12 


THE     ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

and,  after  continuing  for  some  time  in  this  situation,  lie 
arose,  and  turning  towards  the  sanctuary,  and  raising  his 
hands  and  his  eyes  to  heaven,  he  poured  forth  the  grateful 
overflowings  of  his  heart  in  the  following  devout  strain: — 

"  0  Lord  God  of  Israel,  there  is  no  God  like  thee,  in 
heaven  ahove,  or  on  earth  beneath ;  who  keepest  covenant 
and  mercy  with  thy  servants  that  walk  before  thee  with  all 
their  heart:  who  hast  kept  with  thy  servant  David,  my 
father,  that  thou  promised  him :  thou  spokest  also  with 
thy  mouth,  and  hast  fulfilled  it  with  thine  hand,  as  it  is 
this  day.  Therefore  now,  Lord  God  of  Israel,  keep  with 
thy  servant  David,  my  father,  that  thou  promisedst  him, 
saying.  There  shall  not  fail  thee  a  man  in  my  sight  to 
sit  on  the  throne  of  Israel;  so  that  thy  children  take  heed 
to  their  way,  that  they  walk  before  me  as  thou  hast  walked 
before  me.  And  now,  0  God  of  Israel,  let  thy  word,  I 
pray  thee,  be  verified,  which  thou  spakest  unto  thy  servant 
David,  my  father. 

"  But  will  God  indeed  dwell  on  the  earth  ?  Behold,  the 
heaven,  and  the  heaven  of  heavens  cannot  contain  thee : 
how  much  less  this  house  that  I  have  builded  ?  Yet  have 
respect  unto  the  prayer  of  thy  servant,  and  to  his  suppli- 
cation, 0  Lord  my  God,  to  hearken  unto  the  cry  and  to 
the  prayer  which  thy  servant  prayeth  before  thee  to-day ; 
that  thine  eyes  may  be  opened  towards  this  house,  night 
and  day,  even  the  place  of  which  thou  hast  said,  My 
Name  shall  be  there ;  that  thou  mayest  hearken  unto  the 
prayer  which  thy  servant  shall  make  towards  this  place. 
And  hearken  thou  to  the  supplication  of  thy  servant,  and 
of  thy  people  Israel,  when  they  shall  pray  towards  this 
place ;  and  hear  thou  in  heaven,  thy  dwelling-place,  and 
when  thou  hearest  forgive. 

"  If  any  man  trespass  against  his  neighbor,  and  an  oath 
be  laid  upon  him  to  cause  him  to  swear,  and,  the  aath  com« 


THE     KINGS.  267 

before  thine  Altar  in  this  house,  then  hear  thou  in  heaven, 
and  do,  and  judge  thy  servants,  condemning  the  wicked, 
to  bring  his  way  upon  his  head,  and  justifying  the  righte- 
ous, to  give  him  according  to  his  righteousness.  When 
thy  people  Israel  be  smitten  down  before  the  enemy,  be- 
cause tbey  have  sinned  against  thee,  and  shall  turn  again 
to  thee,  and  confess  thy  Name,  and  pray,  and  make  sup- 
plication unto  thee  in  this  house;  then  hear  thou  in  heaven, 
and  forgive  the  sin  of  thy  people  Israel,  and  bring  them 
again  unto  the  land  which  thou  gavest  unto  their  fathers. 
When  heaven  is  shut  up,  and  there  is  no  rain,  because  they 
have  sinned  against  thee,  if  they  pray  towards  this  place, 
and  confess  thy  Name,  and  turn  from  their  sin,  when  thou 
afflictest  them ;  then  hear  thou  in  heaven,  and  forgive  the 
sin  of  thy  servants  and  of  thy  people  Israel,  that  thou 
teach  them  the  good  way  wherein  they  should  walk,  and 
give  rain  upon  thy  land  which  thou  hast  given  to  thy  peo- 
ple for  an  inheritance. 

"  If  there  be  in  the  land  famine,  if  there  be  pestilence, 
blasting,  mildew,  locust,  or  if  there  be  caterpillar ;  if  the 
enemy  besiege  them  in  the  land  of  their  cities,  whatsoe\'er 
plague,  whatsoever  sickness  there  be — what  prayer  and  sup- 
plication soever  be  made  by  any  man,  or  by  all  thy  people 
Israel,  which  shall  know  every  man  the  plague  of  his  own 
heart,  and  spread  forth  his  hands  towards  this  house ;  then 
hear  thou  in  heaven,  thy  dwelling-place,  and  forgive,  and 
do,  and  give  to  every  man  according  to  his  ways,  whose 
heart  thou  knowest ;  for  thou,  even  thou  only  knowest 
the  hearts  of  all  the  children  of  men — that  they  may 
fear  thee  all  the  days  that  they  live  in  the  land  which 
thou  gavest  unto  our  fathers.  Moreover,  concerning  a 
stranger  that  is  not  of  thy  people  Israel,  but  cometh  out 
of  a  far  country,  for  thy  Name's  sake ;  for  they  shall  hear 
of  thy  great  Name,  and  of  thy  strong  hand,  and  of  thy 


208  THE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

stretched-out  arm,  when  he  shall  come  and  pray  towards 
this  house.  Hear  thou  in  heaven,  thy  dwelling-place,  and 
do  according  to  all  that  the  stranger  calleth  to  thee  for ; 
that  all  people  of  the  earth  may  know  thy  Name,  to  fear 
thee,  as  do  thy  people  Israel,  and  that  they  may  know 
that  this  house  which  I  have  builded  is  called  by  thy 
Name. 

"  If  thy  people  go  out  to  battle  against  their  enemy, 
wliithersoever  thou  shalt  send  them,  and  shall  pray  unto 
the  Lord  towards  the  city  which  thou  hast  chosen,  and 
towards  the  house  which  I  have  builded  for  thy  Name ; 
then  hear  thou  in  heaven  their  prayer  and  their  supplica- 
tion, and  maintain  their  cause.  If  they  sin  against  thee, 
for  there  is  no  man  that  sinneth  not,  and  thou  be  angry 
with  them,  and  deliver  them  to  the  enemy,  so  that  they 
carry  them  away  captives,  unto  the  land  of  the  enemy, 
far  or  near,  yet  they  shall  bethink  themselves,  in  the  land 
whither  they  were  carried  captives,  and  repent,  and  make 
supijlication  unto  thee  in  the  land  of  them  that  carried 
them  captives,  saying.  We  have  sinned,  and  have  done 
perversely,  we  have  committed  wickedness  ;  and  so  return 
unto  thee  with  all  their  heart,  and  with  all  their  soul,  in 
the  land  of  their  enemies  which  led  them  away  captive,  and 
pray  unto  thee  towards  their  land,  which  thou  gavest  unto 
their  fathers,  the  city  which  thou  hast  chosen,  and  the 
house  which  I  have  builded  for  thy  Name;  then  hear  thou 
their  prayer  and  their  supplication  in  heaven  thy  dwelling- 
place,  and  maintain  their  cause,  and  forgive  thy  people 
that  have  sinned  against  thee,  and  all  their  transgressions 
wherein  they  have  transgressed  against  thee,  and  give 
them  compassion  before  them  who  carried  them  captive, 
that  they  may  have  compassion  on  them ;  for  they  be  thy 
people  and  thine  inheritance,  which  thou  broughtest  forth 
out  of  Egypt,  from  the  midst  of  the  furnace  of  iron ;  that 


THE     KINGS.  269 

thine  eyes  may  be  open  unto  the  supplication  of  thy  serv- 
ant, and  unto  the  supplication  of  thy  people  Israel,  to 
hearken  unto  them  in  all  that  they  call  for  unto  thee. 
"For  thou  didst  separate  them  from  among  all  the  people 
of  the  earth,  to  be  thine  inheritance,  as  thou  spakest  by 
the  hand  of  Moses  thy  servant,  when  thou  broughtest  our 
fathers  out  of  Egypt,  0  Lord  God." 

Solomon,  having  closed  this  solemn  prayer  and  supplica- 
tion to  the  Almighty,  arose  from  his  kneeling  posture,  and 
turning  to  the  people,  blessed  all  the  congregation  of  Israel, 
saying,  "Blessed  be  the  Lord,  that  hath  given  rest  unto 
his  people  Israel,  according  to  all  that  he  promised :  there 
hath  not  failed  one  word  of  all  his  good  promise  which  he 
promised  by  the  mouth  of  Moses  his  servant.  The  Lord 
our  God  be  with  us,  as  he  was  with  our  fathers :  let  him 
not  leave  us,  nor  forsake  us ;  that  he  may  incline  our 
hearts  unto  him,  to  walk  in  all  his  ways,  and  to  keep  his 
commandments,  and  his  statutes,  and  his  judgments, 
which  he  commanded  our  fathers.  And  let  these  my 
words,  wherewith  I  have  made  supplication  before  the 
Lord,  be  nigh  unto  the  Lord  our  God  day  and  night,  that 
he  maintain  the  cause  of  his  servant,  and  the  cause  of  his 
people  Israel,  at  all  times,  as  the  matter  shall  require; 
that  all  the  people  of  the  earth  may  know  that  the  Lord 
is  God,  and  that  there  is  none  else.  Let  your  heart, 
therefore,  be  perfect  with  the  Lord  our  God,  to  walk  in 
his  statutes,  and  keep  his  commandments,  as  at  this  day." 

The  prayer  of  dedication,  and  the  address  to  the  peo- 
ple, being  ended,  Solomon  concluded  the  solemn  and 
impressive  ceremonies  of  the  occasion  by  a  sacrifice,  sur- 
passing, in  magnificence,  anything  of  the  kind  that  had 
preceded  it.  He  then,  "  on  the  eighth  day,  or  the  day 
after  the  feast,  sent  the  people  away;  and  they  blessed 
the  king,  and  went  unto  their  tents  joyful  and  glad  of 


270  THE     ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

heart,  for  all  the  goodness  that  the  Lord  had  done  for 
David  his  servant,  and  Israel  his  people."  The  great 
work  being  thus  happily  accomplished,  and  visibly  ac- 
cepted by  the  Almighty,  and  the  Ark  of  the  Covenant, 
with  its  glorious  Shechinah,  having  thus  found  its  last 
resting-place,  in  Jerusalem  was  God  thenceforth  to  be 
known,  and  there  alone  could  sacrifices  and  offerings,  with 
an  assurance  of  acceptance,  be  offered  unto  him. 

During  the  night  which  followed  these  solemn  and  joy- 
ful ceremonies,  God  again  appeared  to  Solomon,  either  by 
\asion  or  dream,  and  said  unto  him,  "  I  have  heard  thy 
prayer  and  thy  supplication  that  thou  hast  made  before 
me:  I  have  hallowed  this  house  which  thou  hast  built,  to 
put  my  name  there  forever ;  and  mine  eyes  and  mine  heart 
shall  be  there  perpetually.  And  if  thou  wilt  walk  before 
me,  as  David  thy  father  walked,  in  integrity  of  heart,  and 
in  uprightness,  to  do  according  to  all  that  I  have  com- 
manded thee,  and  wilt  keep  my  statutes  and  my  judg- 
ments: then  I  will  establish  the  throne  of  thy  kingdom 
forever,  as  I  promised  to  David  thy  father,  saying,  There 
shall  not  fail  thee  a  man  upon  the  throne  of  Israel.  But 
if  ye  shall  at  all  turn  from  following  me,  ye  or  your  chil- 
dren, and  will  not  keep  my  commandments  and  my  statutes 
which  I  have  set  before  you,  but  go  and  serve  other  gods, 
and  worship  them;  then  will  I  cut  off  Israel  out  of  the 
land  which  I  have  given  them;  and  this  house,  which  I 
have  hallowed  for  my  name,  will  I  cast  out  of  my  sight ; 
and  Israel  shall  be  a  proverb  and  a  by-word  among  all 
people :  and  at  this  house,  which  is  high,  every  one  that 
passeth  by  it  shall  be  astonished  and  shall  hiss ;  and  they 
shall  say.  Why  hath  the  Lord  done  this  unto  this  land, 
and  to  this  house?  And  they  shall  answer,  Because  they 
forsook  the  Lord  their  God,  who  brought  foith  their  fathers 
out  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  and  have  taken  hold  upon  other 


THE     KINGS.  271 

gods,  and  have  worshipped  ^liem,  and  served  them ;  there- 
fore hath  the  Lord  brought  upon  them  all  this  evil" — 
a  threatening  which  we  shall  soon  see,  in  the  sequel  of 
their  history,  awfully  fulfilled. 

•  At  the  time  of  the  dedication  of  the  Temple,  Solomon 
was  in  the  thirtieth  year  of  his  age ;  and,  during  the  fol- 
lowing thirteen  years,  he  was  chiefly  employed  in  the  erec- 
tion of  other  works  of  ornament  or  utility.  Amongst  these 
was  a  splendid  palace  for  himself,  on  a  peak  of  the  Zion 
range  of  mountains,  opposite  to  Mount  Moriah,  upon 
which  the  Temple  stood ;  another  palace  for  his  queen, 
the  daughter  of  the  king  of  Egypt;  and  the  "House  of 
the  Forest  of  Lebanon,"  which  Avas  his  principal  residence- 
during  the  summer.  These  palaces  were  all  built  of 
costly  stones  of  immense  size,  and  were  surrounded  by 
large  porches,  or  colonnades.  "  In  the  porch  of  judgment, 
at  the  royal  palace,  was  the  great  throne  of  ivory,  overlaid 
with  pure  gold.  The  ascent  to  the  throne  was  by  six 
steps,  and  on  each  side  were  stays,  and  two  lions  stood 
beside  the  stays ;  and  upon  six  steps  were  twelve  lions.'* 
The  palace  of  Lebanon  contained  "  two  hundred  targets 
of  beaten  gold,  of  six  hundred  shekels  each ;  and  three 
hundred  golden  shields,  of  three  pounds  to  each  shield. 
"  All  the  vessels  of  this  house,  and  all  Solomon's  vessels, 
were  of  pure  gold :  none  were  of  silver ;  it  was  nothing 
thought  of  in  the  days  of  this  king." 

In  the  erection  of  these  splendid  buildings,  Solomon 
was  greatly  aided  by  his  faithful  ally,  the  king  of  Tyre ; 
and,  as  an  expression  of  his  gratitude,  he  bestowed  upon 
that  prince  twelve  cities  in  the  land  of  Galilee,  adjacent  to 
his  own  country.  For  some  reason,  however,  not  now 
known,  these  cities  were  soon  after  re-ceded  to  Solomon, 
and  by  him  fortified  with  great  strength.  He  also  forti- 
fied, at  the  same  time,  the  city  of  Gazer,  which  he  had 


272  THE     ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

received  as  a  dowery  with  his  queen,  the  daughter  of 
Pharaoh ;  Hanath,  which  he  had  recently  captured ; 
Tadmor,  in  the  wilderness .  of  Syria ;  "  and  all  the  cities 
of  store,  and  cities  for  his  chariots,  and  cities  for  his  horse- 
men, and  all  that  which  Solomon  desired  to  build  in  the 
land  of  his  dominions."  He  also  rebuilt  the  walls  of 
Jerusalem,  and  strengthened  its  fortifications,  to  corre- 
spond with  the  increased  magnificence  and  importance  of 
the  place. 

The  laboring  men  who  were  employed  on  the  building 
of  these  great  works,  were  a  remnant  of  the  Canaanites 
who  dwelt  in  the  vicinity  of  Mount  Lebanon.  They  were 
a  stubborn  race,  and  had  hitherto  successfully  resisted  the 
authority  of  the  Israelites ;  but  being  at  length  subdued 
by  Solomon,  he  used  them  as  bondsmen  in  the  more  labo- 
rious and  menial  parts  of  his  service,  whilst  all  the  sta- 
tions of  honor  and  trust  in  his  government  were  filled  by 
native  Israelites.  "  They  were  his  oflScers,  his  men  of 
war,  the  rulers  of  his  chariots  and  horsemen,  and  rulers 
over  those  that  wrought  in  the  work." 

The  execution  of  these  vast  designs  required  an  amount 
of  wealth  far  exceeding  the  utmost  resources  of  Solomon's 
kingdom  ;  and,  therefore,  in  order  to  supply  the  deficiency, 
both  he  and  his  subjects  now,  for  the  first  time,  engaged 
in  foreign  commerce.  Aided  by  his  old  and  steadfast 
friend  and  ally,  Hiram,  king  of  Tyre,  he  fitted  out  a 
fleet  in  Ezion-Geber,  beside  Elath,  on  the  shore  of  the 
Bed  Sea,  in  the  land  ofEdom;  "and  manning  it  with  a 
crew  composed  of  both  Hebrews  and  Tyrians,  it  sailed  to 
Ophir ;  and,  after  two  years'  absence,  brought  thence  to 
the  king  four  hundred  and  twenty  talents  in  gold,  besides 
vast  quantities  of  eastern  merchandise.  This  merchan- 
dise was  transferred  to  another  fleet  of  ships,  and  disposed 
of  all  along  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean  ;  and  thus  the 


THE     KINGS.  273 

land  of  Israel  became  at  ouce  the  centre  of  a  most  lucra- 
tive trade.  Solomon's  subjects,  at  the  same  time,  carried 
on  an  inland  trade  from  Egypt,  through  his  dominions,  ex- 
tending to  Tadmor,  in  the  Syrian  desert,  and  thence  farthei 
eastward ;  and  in  the  course  of  this  new  enterprise,  linen 
yarn,  horses,  and  chariots  w^ere  brought  from  Egypt,  and 
sold  to  the  Syrians ;  and  Solomon's  servants  had  a  com 
plete  monopoly  of  the  whole  trade." 

Through  these  different  enterprises,  the  wealth  and  wis- 
dom of  Solomon,  and  the  splendor  of  his  court,  became  so 
generally  known,  as  to  elicit  the  admiration  of  all  the  sur- 
rounding monarchs ;  "  and  all  the  earth  sought  to  Solo- 
mon, to  hear  his  wisdom,  which  God  had  put  into  his 
heart.  And  they  brought  every  man  his  present ;  vessels 
of  goKl,  and  vessels  of  silver,  and  garments,  and  armor, 
and  spices,  and  harness,  and  mules,  a  rate  year  by  year," 

Among  others  who  were  thus  attracted  to  the  king  of 
Israel,  was  the  queen  of  Sheba,  whose  dominions  lay  in  the 
southern  part  of  Arabia.  No  sooner  had  the  report  of 
Solomon's  wisdom  reached  her,  than  she  came  with  a 
large  retinue,  and  a  present  of  gold  and  spices,  and  pre 
cious  stones,  to  test  the  extent  of  the  king's  reputed 
wisdom,  by  proposing  the  most  difficult  and  abstruse  ques 
tions.  The  manner  in  which  Solomon  answered  all  the 
queen's  questions,  together  with  the  splendor  of  his  court, 
and  the  grandeur  of  the  Temple  service,  were  so  com- 
pletely overwhelming  that  there  was  no  more  spirit  in 
her.  "  And  she  said  to  the  king,  it  was  a  true  report 
that  I  heard  in  mine  own  land  of  thy  acts  and  of  thy  wis- 
dom. Howbeit,  I  believed  not  their  words  until  I  came, 
and  mine  eyes  had  seen  it ;  and  behold  the  half  was  not 
told  me :  thy  wisdom  and  prosperity  exceedeth  the  fame 
which  I  heard.  Happy  are  thy  men,  happy  are  these 
thy  servants,  which  stand  continually  before  thee,  and  that 
12* 


274  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

hear  thy  wisdom.  Blessed  be  the  Lord  thy  God,  wliich 
delighted  in  thee,  to  set  thee  on  the  throne  of  Israel; 
because  the  Lord  loved  Israel  for  ever,  therefore  made  he 
thee  king  to  do  judgment  and  justice." 

Solomon  must,  at  this  period,  have  passed  the  forty-fifth 
year  of  his  age ;  and,  up  to  this  time,  he  seems  to  have 
strictly  followed  the  precepts  of  his  father,  and  "  observed 
all  the  statutes  and  commandments  of  the  Almighty." 
His  unprecedented  prosperity,  however,  at  length  corrupt- 
ed his  heart ;  and  giving  loose  to  his  unbridled  passions, 
they  soon  swept  away,  like  a  whirlwind,  every  pious  and 
virtuous  barrier  by  which  he  had  hitherto  been  surrounded. 
He  soon  drained  the  cup  of  earthly  joys  to  its  very  dregs — 
indulging  his  sensual  passions  until  the  counsels  of  sobriety 
and  reason  lost  all  their  influence  over  him.  He  even,  in 
direct  violation  of  the  laws  of  Moses,  married  many  of 
the  daughters  of  the  surrounding  idolatrous  nations  ;  thus 
multiplying  the  number  of  his  wives  until  they  amounted 
to  seven  hundred  princesses,  and  three  hundred  concu- 
bines. By  their  influence,  these  strange  women  led  him 
into  acts  of  the  grossest  idolatry ;  "  for  Solomon  went 
after  Ashtoreth,  the  goddess  of  the  Zidonians,  and  after 
Milcom,  the  abomination  of  the  Ammonites.  And  like- 
wise did  he  for  all  his  strange  wives  which  sacrificed  unto 
their  gods." 

This  extraordinary  infatuation  of  the  king,  and  the 
abandoned  -wickedness  Avhich  attended  it,  at  length  so 
greatly  oftended  the  Almighty,  "  that  the  Lord  was  angry 
with  Solomon,  because  his  heart  was  turned  from  the 
Lord  God  of  Israel,  which  had  appeared  unto  him  twice, 
and  commanded  him  concerning  this  thing,  that  he  should 
not  go  after  other  gods.  Wherefore  the  Lord  said  unto 
Solomon,  Forasmuch  as  this  is  done  of  tiiee,  and  thou 
hast  not  kept  my  covenant  and  my  statutes  which  I  com- 


THE     KINGS.  275 

raanded  thee,  I  will  surely  rend  the  kingdom  from  thee, 
and  give  it  unto  thy  servant.  Notwithstanding,  in  thy 
days  I  will  not  do  it,  for  David  thy  father's  sake ;  but  I 
will  rend  it  out  of  the  hand  of  thy  son.  I  will  not  rend 
away  all  the  kingdom,  but  will  give  one  tribe  to  thy  son, 
for  David  my  servant's  sake,  and  for  Jerusalem's  sake, 
which  I  have  chosen." 

This  awful  warning  had,  happily,  the  desired  effect  upon 
the  guilty  king,  and  soon  brought  him  to  sincere  repent- 
ance and  a  thorough  reformation  of  life.  It  was  now,  how- 
ever, too  late  to  avert  the  threatened  calamity :  the  clouds 
of  adversity  were  already  rapidly  gathering  around  this 
recently  happy  and  peaceful  empire ;  and  the  lowering 
storm  but  too  clearly  indicated  that  mere  pomp  and  out- 
ward show  are  far  from  constituting  real  happiness.  Solo- 
mon had,  by  the  most  melancholy  experience,  thoroughly 
learned  that  of  the  most  exquisite  earthly  joys,  "  all  was 
vanity  of  vanities,  and  vexation  of  spirit ;"  and  in  order, 
therefore,  to  warn  Eehoboam,  his  son  and  prospective 
successor,  of  the  fatal  error  which  he  himself  had  commit- 
ted, he  left  him,  in  Ecclesiastes,  the  impressive  record  of 
his  own  sad  experience ;  and  afterwards  composed,  for 
bis  more  immediate  instruction,  the  inimitable  Book  of 
Proverbs. 

In  the  execution  of  his  righteous  judgments  against 
the  empire  of  Israel,  the  first  enemy  which  the  Almighty 
raised  up  was  Hadad,  a  prince  of  the  royal  family  of 
Edom.  From  the  g-eneral  slaughter  of  the  Edomites  by 
Joab,  Hadad,  then  a  child,  had  escaped;  and,  after  wan- 
dering for  many  years  from  place  to  place,  he  finally 
reached  Egypt,  and  there  so  rapidly  advanced  in  the' 
king  s  favor,  that  he  soon  married  into  the  royal  family. 
He  remained  quietly  in  Egypt  until  after  the  death  of' 
David  and  Joab;  but  at  length,  with  the  permission  of 


270  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

the  Egyptian  monarch,  he  returned  to  his  own  country 
and  began  "  a  petty  warfare,  which  Solomon  did  not  re- 
press." While  Hadad  was  carrying  on  these  operations 
in  the  southwestern  part  of  Solomon's  dominions,  another 
adversary  appeared  in  the  north,  in  the  person  of  Rezon, 
king  of  Damascus.  This  spirited  prince  had  openly  re- 
volted from  Hadadezer,  king  of  Zobah,  and,  with  a  band 
of  resolute  followers,  he  made  himself  master  of  Damascus, 
where,  in  the  latter  part  of  Solomon's  reign,  his  power 
became  very  formidable. 

But  Solomon's  most  serious  enemy,  at  this  time,  was 
raised  up  amidst  his  own  people,  and  found  in  the  person 
of  Jeroboam,  the  son  of  Nebat,  an  Ephrathite.  This 
young  prince  had  already  so  greatly  distinguished  himself 
by  his  valor,  that  the  king,  observing  his  rare  qualities, 
had  "made  him  ruler  over  the  House  of  Joseph."  As 
ruler  of  the  tribes  of  Ephraim  and  Manasseh,  Jeroboam 
soon  acquired  great  popularity ;  and  it  therefore  required 
little  farther  eflbrt  on  his  part  to  wean  the  northern  tribes, 
amidst  which  he  dwelt,  and  who  were  now  overburthened 
with  the  weight  of  their  taxes,  to  revolt  from  the  house  of 
Solomon. 

In  order  to  prepare  the  mind  of  Jeroboam  for  his  future 
elevation,  God  ordered  the  prophet  Ahijah  to  meet  him 
alone  on  his  return  from  Jerusalem,  and  communicate  to 
him  a  knowledge  of  his  future  destiny.  The  prophet 
accordingly  went  forth  to  execute  his  important  commis- 
sion ;  and,  meeting  Jeroboam  in  the  way,  he  first  tore  off 
his  garment,  and  then  rending  it  into  twelve  pieces,  com- 
municated his  message  in  the  following  energetic  manner  : 
*'  Take  thon  ten  pieces ;  for  thus  saith  the  Lord,  the  God 
of  Israel,  Behold  I  will  rend  the  kingdom  out  of  the  hand 
of  Solomon,  and  will  give  ten  tribes  to  thee.  Because 
they  have  forsaken  me,  and  have  worshipped  other  godfi, 


THE     KINGS.  277 

and  liave  not  walked  in  my  ways,  to  do  thit  which  is 
right  in  mine  eyes,  to  keep  my  statutes  and  my  judg- 
ments. Hovvbeit,  I  will  not  take  the  whole  kingdom  out 
of  his  hands :  he  shall  have  one  tribe,  that  David  my  serv- 
ant may  have  a  light  always  before  me  in  Jerusalem ; 
and  I  will  make  him  prince,  all  the  days  of  his  life. 
But  I  will  take  the  kingdom  out  of  his  son's  hands  and 
will  give  it  to  thee,  even  the  ten  tribes ;  and  thou  shalt 
reign  according  to  all  that  thy  soul  desireth.  And  it 
shall  be,  if  thou  wilt  hearken  unto  all  that  I  command 
thee,  and  walk  in  my  ways,  and  do  that  is  right  in  my 
sight,  to  keep  my  commandments,  as  David  my  servant 
did ;  that  I  will  be  with  thee,  and  build  thee  a  sure  house, 
as  I  built  for  David,  and  will  give  Israel  unto  thee.  And 
I  will  afflict  the  seed  of  David,  but  not  forever."  This 
act  of  Ahijah  soon  became  known  to  the  king;  and  Jero- 
boam's life  being  no  longer  safe  in  his  own  country,  he 
fled  to  the  court  of  Egypt,  and  there  remained  until  after 
Solomon's  death. 

In  975  A.  C,  and  in  the  fifty-ninth  year  of  his  age, 
Solomon,  after  a  reign  of  forty  years,  slept  with  his 
fathers,  and  was  peacefully  buried  in  the  city  of  David. 
Happy  for  him  that  his  death  occurred  before  the  gather- 
ing and  threatening  storm,  that  now  menaced  his  domin- 
ions on  every  side,  burst  forth  upon  his  beloved  country ! 
A  united  and  devoted  people  had  welcomed  him  to  his 
throne,  and  his  long  reign  had  been  one  of  almost  unal- 
loyed prosperity.  His  wisdom  was  proverbial ;  but  his 
love  of  pomp  and  display,  his  voluptuous  habits,  and, 
above  all,  his  sinful  departure  from  the  true  God,  brought 
misery  upon  his  hitherto  happy  people,  covered  his  own 
name  with  reproaches,  and  left,  probably,  few  to  mourn 
his  death.  Still,  however,  in  estimating  his  life  and  char- 
acter, charity  requires   that  we   remember  his  virtues  as 


278 


TUE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS 


well  as  bis  vices — his  wisdom,  bis  generosity,  and  his  early 
zeal  for  the  worship  of  God,  as  well  as  his  devotion  to  the 
world,  and  bis  shameful  idolatry. 


CHAPTER    THE    FIFTH. 
KINGS    OF    ISRAEL. 

SECTION  I. 

Jkroboam  :— Erects  Altars  at  Bethel  and  at  Dan  for  the  Worship  of  a 
Golden  Calf— Officiates  himself  as  Hifrh-priest— Nadab— Baasha — 
Follows  the  Wicked  Counsels  of  Jeroboam— Et.ah—Omiu— Build- 
ing of  Samaria — Ahab — ^Marries  Jezebel — Elijah  the  Prophet — The 
Wickedness  of  Ahab  and  Jezebel — The  Drought — Retirement  of  Eli- 
jah— Challenge  to  the  Prophets  of  Baal— Israel  invaded  by  Benha- 
dad— The  Field  of  Naboth -Death  of  Ahab. 

With  the  death  of  Solomon,  the  glory  of  the  kingdom 
of  Israel  departed.  That  great  prince,  in  order  to  support 
the  vast  expenses  of  his  luxurious  government,  had  been 
compelled,  during  the  latter  part  of  his  reign,  to  impose 
upon  his  subjects  a  weight  of  taxation  which  nothing  but 
his  own  personal  authority  could  have  induced  them  to 
bear.  When  Rehoboam,  his  son  and  successor,  therefore, 
repaired,  on  his  father's  death,  to  Shechem,  to  receive  the 
homage  of  all  Israel,  and  their  confirmation  of  his  right 
to  the  crown,  the  princes  of  ten  of  the  tribes,  with  Jero- 
boam— who  had  now  returned  from  Egypt — at  their  head, 
waited  upon  the  king,  and  firmly  required,  as  the  condition 
of  their  submission  to  his  government,  a  reduction  of  their 
taxes.  "  Thy  father,"  said  they,  "  made  our  yoke  grievous ; 
now,  therefore,  make  thou  the  service  of  thy  father  and 
the  yoke  which  he  put  upon  us,  lighter,  and  we  will  serve 
thee." 

Rehoboam  was,  at  this  time,  in  the  forty-first  year  of 


280  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

his  age ;  and  his  own  knowledge  and  observation  should, 
therefore,  have  led  him  to  perceive  that  the  request  of 
Jeroboam  and  his  associates  was  both  reasonable  and  just, 
and  should  be  at  once  complied  with.  God  had,  however, 
determined  to  punish  the  house  of  David  for  the  sin  of 
Solomon,  by  separating  the  ten  tribes  from  the  tribe  of 
Judah  and  Benjamin,  and  bestowing  the  government  of 
them  upon  another ;  and  he,  therefore,  permitted  Eehobo- 
am,  in  this  emergency,  to  hearken  to  the  advice  of  evil 
counsellors.  Eehoboam  seemed,  at  first,  inclined  to  listen 
to  the  request  of  his  subjects  ;  and  he,  accordingly,  direct- 
ed them  to  appear  before  him  again  at  the  expiration  of 
three  days,  informing  them  that  he  would  then  reply  to 
their  petition. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  king  called  together  a  council  of  the 
experienced  statesmen,  who  had  long  been  associated  with 
his  father  in  the  government ;  and  no  sooner  had  the  com- 
plaint of  the  people  been  communicated  to  them,  than  they 
advised  Eehoboam  to  treat  the  request  kindly,  "  and  speak 
good  words  unto  them."  The  younger  counsellors  of  the 
king,  who  had  grown  up  with  him,  advised  him,  on  the 
contrary,  to  reduce  the  disafiected  to  submission  by  threats 
of  increased  severity ;  and,  therefore,  at  the  expiration  of 
the  three  days,  Eehoboam  answered  the  people,  through 
their  representatives,  "  My  father  made  your  yoke  heavy, 
and  I  will  add  to  your  yoke ;  my  father  chastised  you 
with  whips,  but  I  will  chastise  you  with  scorpions."  The 
rebellion  was  entirely  successful ;  the  ten  tribes,  with  the 
tribe  of  Ephraim  at  their  head,  immediately  proclaimed 
Jeroboam,  the  son  of  Nebat,  king;  and  thus,  in  975 
A.  C,  founded  the  kingdom  of  Israel,  in  opposition  to 
the  kingdom  of  Judah. 

Jeroboam  was  no  sooner  crowned  king  of  Israel,  than 
be  selected  the  ancient  city  of  Shechem,  in  the  tribe  of 


THE     KINGS.  281 

Ephraim,  to  which  he  himself  belonged,  as  the  seat  of  hia 
government :  he  had  also  a  summer  residence  at  Tirzah, 
in  Manasseh.  But,  though  thus  released  from  its  depend- 
ance  upon  Judah,  yet  the  new  kingdom  was  still  under 
undiminished  allegiance  to  the  Almighty,  and  was  equally 
bound  with  Judah  by  all  the  obligations  of  the  ancient 
covenants.  In  both  kingdoms  we  are,  therefore,  still  to 
observe  the  continued  operation  of  the  theocratical  system 
for  the  preservation  of  the  knowledge  of  the  true  God 
upon  the  earth.  Both  were  prospered  or  humbled,  in 
proportion  as  their  conduct  advanced  or  retarded  that 
great  object;  and  as  we  henceforth  follow  their  separate 
career,  we  shall  have  frequent  occasion  to  observe  how 
distinctly  the  scrutinizing  eye  of  Omniscience  recognizes 
all  their  doings. 

Jeroboam,  whatever  may  have  been  his  original  inten- 
tions, prepared,  soon  after  his  elevation  to  the  throne,  to 
separate  his  kingdom  entirely  from  the  kingdom  of  Judah ; 
and,  as  the  unity  of  the  national  worship,  and  the  custom 
of  repairing  three  times  a  year  to  Jerusalem,  greatly  im- 
peded his  plan,  he  impiously  resolved  to  establish  idola- 
trous sanctuaries  in  his  own  kingdom.  With  this  view,  he 
selected  Bethel,  in  the  south  part  of  his  dominions,  and 
Dan,  in  the  north ;  and  at  each  of  these  places  he  erected 
an  altar,  and  placed  upon  it,  after  the  manner  of  the 
Egyptians,  a  golden  calf,  as  a  symbol  under  which  he 
designed  that  his  subjects  should  worship  the  Almighty. 
After  thus  preparing  his  altars,  Jeroboam  ordered  the 
tribes  in  their  respective  vicinity  to  repair  to  each,  and, 
addressing  himself  to  the  people  in  the  form  of  an  apology 
for  what  he  had  done,  said  to  them,  "  It  is  too  much  for 
you  to  go  up  to  Jerusalem :  behold  thy  gods,  0  Israel, 
which  brought  thee  up  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt." 

The  selection  of  Bethel  and  Dan  as  the  seats  of  idola^ 


282  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWE. 

trous  worship,  was  not  the  result  of  caprice — the  former 
having  long  been  venerated  as  the  place  where  Jacob,  the 
father  of  the  Hebrew  race,  had  his  miraculous  vision ; 
and  the  latter  had  been  notorious  for  its  idolatry,  even 
from  the  early  settlement  of  the  Israelites  in  Canaan. 

After  having  established  his  altars,  Jeroboam  had  a  new 
difficulty  to  contend  with,  which  he  seems  not  to  have  an- 
ticipated. No  priest  or  Levite  cculd  be  found,  willing  to 
connect  himself  with  this  abomination  ;  but  all,  with  one 
accord,  abandoned  their  cities  and  possessions,  and  removed 
into  Judah.  In  this  emergency,  Jeroboam  was  compelled 
to  select  priests  for  his  new  deifies  from  the  lowest  ranks 
of  the  people,  and  to  assume  the  office  of  high-priest  him- 
self. These  innovations  were  so  shocking  to  every  mind 
properly  imbued  with  the  principles  of  the  true  religion, 
that  a  large  proportion  of  the  most  valuable  men  in  Israel 
soon  after  removed  into  the  sister  kingdom.  By  this 
means,  the  kingdom  of  Judah  became,  in  a  short  time,  in 
real  strength  and  power,  less  unequal  to  that  of  Israel, 
than  the  proportion  between  two  and  ten  tribes  would 
seem  to  indicate.  Judah  was,  in  reality,  a  settled  king- 
dom, with  well  organized  resources  and  establishments, 
and  with  a  large  treasure ;  so  that  the  balance  of  power 
may  even  now  be  deemed  to  incline  in  its  fiivor. 

On  one  occasion,  as  Jeroboam  was  officiating  as  high- 
priest  at  Bethel,  at  Ids  feast  of  tabernacles,  the  prophet 
Ahijah  was  sent  by  the  Almighty  to  inform  him  that 
Josiah,  a  future  king  of  Judah,  should  profane  and  destroy 
the  very  altar  at  which  he  was  then  burning  incense. 
The  power  by  which  the  prophet  spoke,  was  evinced  by 
the  instant  withering  of  the  hand  which  the  king  stretched 
forth  to  seize  him ;  and  also  by  its  immediate  restoration 
to  health  at  the  prophet's  prayer.  This  solemn  event  had, 
however,  no  abiding  effect   upon  Jeroboam ;  for  he  still 


KINGS     OF     ISRAEL.  283 

persisted  in  his  evil  ways  until  he  at  length  brought  ruin 
upon  his  house  and  fiimily.  This  doom  \vas  announced 
by  the  prophet  Ahijah,  who,  in  predicting  the  event,  de- 
clared that  not  only  the  dynasty  of  Jeroboam  should  soon 
be  extinguished,  but  that  the  sins  of  the  Israelites,  as  a 
nation,  should,  in  the  end,  cause  them  to  be  carried  away 
as  captives  beyond  the  Euphrates.  Jeroboam  reigned 
twenty-tw^o  years,  during  the  greater  part  of  which  a  de- 
sultory warfare  was  maintained  between  the  kingdoms  of 
Judah  and  Israel ;  but,  in  the  nineteenth  year,  Jeroboam 
received  so  severe  a  defeat  from  Abijah,  that  he  never 
again  displayed  his  former  spirit  of  enterprise.  His  death 
occurred  953  A.  C. 

Jeroboam  was  succeeded,  both  in  his  kingdom  and  in 
his  idolatrous  courses,  by  his  son  Nadao.  This  prince, 
after  an  unimportant  reign  of  two  years,  was  assassinated 
by  Baasha,  one  of  his  generals,  who  also  put  all  the  rem.ain- 
ing  members  of  Jeroboam's  family  to  death — thus  fulfilling 
the  first  part  of  Ahijah's  prediction. 

Baasha  adopted  the  wicked  policy  of  Jeroboam ;  and 
though  the  prophets  of  the  Lord  forewarned  him  that 
similar  vengeance  would  overtake  his  family,  still  he  ob- 
stinately persevered  in  his  impiety.  The  immediate  conse- 
quence of  this  conduct  on  the  part  of  the  king  was,  that 
many  of  the  Israelites,  who  were  strongly  attached  to  the 
pure  worship  of  their  fathers,  annually  went  up  secretly 
to  ofler  their  devotions  at  Jerusalem,  while  others  took 
up  their  permanent  abode  in  Judah.  To  prevent  these 
courses,  Baasha  took  and  fortified  Kamah ;  but  from  this 
stronghold  he  was  soon  called  away  to  defend  his  country 
from  the  Syrians,  whom  Asa,  king  of  Judah  had  bribed  to 
invade  the  territories  of  his  rival.  Baasha  died  after  a 
feeble  and  inglorious  reign  of  twenty-three  years,  930 
A.  C. 


284  THE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

Baasha  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Elah,  a  weak  and 
luxurious  prince,  who  occupied  the  throne  but  little  more 
than  a  year.  He  was  assassinated  while  feasting  at  the 
house  of  his  steward,  by  Zimri,  the  captain  of  his  chariot!  ; 
and  as  soon  as  the  army,  which  was  then  besieging  G'lh- 
bethon,  a  Philistine  city,  heard  of  the  murder,  they  raised 
Omri,  their  commander,  to  the  vacant  throne,  and  marched 
against  the  usurper.  Zimri,  who  was  then  at  Tirzah,  soon 
perceiving  that  there  were  no  hopes  of  escape,  fled  into  his 
palace,  and  setting  it  on  Are,  perished  in  the  flames. 
Omri,  however,  found  another  competitor  for  the  throne 
in  TiBNi,  whom  the  people  had,  meantime,  chosen  king ; 
and  it  was  not  until  923  A.  C,  after  a  severe  contest  of 
«ix  years,  that  he  subdued  this  formidable  rival. 

The  most  important  act  of  the  reign  of  Omri,  was  the 
building  of  a  new  capitol,  which  he  called  Samaria,  after 
Shemer,  the  name  of  the  original  proprietor  of  the  hill  on 
which  it  was  erected.  Samaria  soon  became  a  place  of 
great  importance,  and  continued,  long  after  the  fall  of  the 
kingdom  of  Israel,  to  be  the  metropolis  of  the  country  in 
the  centre  of  which  it  was  situated.  The  sacred  historian 
sums  up  the  character  of  this  prince  by  saying,  "  Omri 
wrought  evil  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord,  and  did  worse  than 
all  that  went  before  him."  He  died  918  A.  C,  after  a  reign 
of  eleven  years,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Ahab. 

Ahab,  immediately  after  the  commencement  of  his 
reign,  married  Jezebel,  the  daughter  of  the  king  of 
Sidon  ;  and,  at  her  instigation,  he  introduced  the  wor- 
ship of  the  Sidonian  deities,  which  consisted  of  the  offer- 
ing of  numerous  sacrifices,  and  other  enormities  too 
al)ominable  to  be  mentioned.  Those  who  still  adhered 
to  the  worship  of  the  Almiglity  were  bitterly  persecuted, 
the  schools  of  the  prophets  were  closed,  and  many  of  the 
teachers  put  to  death. 


KINGS     OF     ISRAEL.  285 

To  stem  the  tide  of  corruption,  and  to  prevent  the  tota. 
apostasy  of  Israel,  God  raised  up  Elijah  the  Tishhite,  by 
far  the  greatest  prophet,  both  in  word  and  deed,  that  had 
appeared  since  Moses.  He  presented  himself  abruptly  in 
the  presence  of  the  king,  and  announced  to  him  in  person 
the  national  punishment  of  a  long  drought,  as  an  expres- 
sion of  Divine  vengeance  against  such  gross  iniquity.  In 
the  eighth  year  of  the  reign  of  Ahab,  the  drought,  in  ac- 
cordance v^dth  the  prophet's  announcement,  commenced; 
and  Elijah,  at  the  Divine  command,  retired  beyond  the 
Jordan,  and  concealed  himself  in  a  cavern  beside  the 
brook  Cherith,  where  he  was,  for  a  whole  year,  morning 
and  evening,  providentially  provided  with  food  by  ravens. 
The  drought  continued ;  and  the  brook,  for  want  of  rain, 
being  dried  up,  the  prophet  crossed  the  country  to  Sarepta, 
a  town  in  the  kingdom  of  Jezebel's  father.  At  this  place 
he  remained  two  years,  lodging  with  a  poor  widow  and 
her  son ;  and  during  all  that  time  of  famine,  they  were 
supported  through  the  miraculous  inexhaustion  of  a  hand- 
ful of  flour  and  a  little  oil — the  only  remaining  food  of 
the  poor  woman  when  the  prophet  arrived  at  her  humble 
dwelling. 

During  the  three  years  that  Elijah  remained  in  obscu- 
rity, the  Israelites  suffered  dreadfully  from  the  famine; 
and  Ahab,  being  convinced  that  the  remedy  was  in  the 
hands  of  the  prophet,  sought  for  him  diligently  in  every 
direction.  At  length  God,  regarding  the  punishment  as 
sufficient,  resolved  to  give  rain  and  remove  the  famine  :  he, 
therefore,  ordered  Elijah  to  return  to  the  land  of  Israel. 
On  his  way  thither  he  met  Obadiah,  a  pious  man  and 
officer  of  the  king's  household,  who  had  been  sent  out  to 
seek  forage  for  the  cattle.  Elijah,  after  a  brief  interview 
with  Obadiah,  bade  him  return  and  inform  Ahab  of  his  re- 
appearance in  Israel.     The  intelligence  greatly  delighted 


286  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

the  king,  who  immediately  went  out  to  meet  the  prophet ; 
but  he  no  sooner  beheld  him,  than  he  exclaimed,  "  Art  thou 
he  who  troubleth  Israel  V 

The  implied  charge  in  this  question  Elijah  sternly  re- 
torted upon  the  king — alleging  that  it  was  his  own  apos- 
tasy and  the  apostasy  of  the  nation  that  was  the  cause  of 
their  suffering.  He,  at  the  same  time,  required  of  Ahab 
that  he  should  convene  a  general  assembly  of  the  priests 
of  Baal,  on  Mount  Carmel,  where  he  alone  would  meet 
them,  and  would  there  determine,  in  the  presence  of  all 
the  people,  which  deity,  Baal  or  Jehovah,  was  the  most 
powerful  protector  of  the  nation.  The  challenge  was  ac- 
cepted ;  the  assembly  called,  and  the  altars  erected.  The 
priests  of  Baal  spread  forth  their  sacrifices,  and  continued, 
with  frantic  invocations  and  lacerations  of  their  flesh,  to 
call  for  a  sign  from  heaven,  until  more  than  half  the  day 
was  spent ;  but  no  sign,  either  in  heaven  or  on  earth, 
answered  to  their  cry.  Then  Elijah  arose,  and  placing 
himself  by  the  side  of  his  altar,  he,  after  uttering  some 
biting  ridicule  of  the  impotent  god  and  his  votaries,  called 
solemnly  upon  the  God  of  Israel  to  manifest  his  power. 
He  was  instantly  answered  by  fire  from  heaven  so  intense, 
that  it  consumed  not  only  the  victims  and  the  altar,  but 
the  very  stones  and  dust  that  surrounded  them.  At  this 
miraculous  display  of  Divine  power,  the  people  fell  on 
their  faces,  crying,  "  The  Lord,  he  is  the  God ;  the  Lord, 
he  is  the  God ;"  and  then,  at  the  instance  of  the  prophet, 
they  evinced  the  sincerity  of  their  conviction,. by  seizing 
the  priests  of  Baal,  and  putting  them  all  to  death. 

At  the  close  of  this  impressive  scene,  Elijah  ascended 
to  the  top  of  Mount  Carmel  and  earnestly  prayed  that 
the  drought  might  cease.  A  small  cloud  rising  from  the 
sea  was  immediately  afterwards  seen ;  and  that  welcome 
sign  was  soon  followed  by  copious  and   abundant  rain. 


KINGS     OF     ISRAEL,  287 

This  miraculous  deliverance  of  the  people  from  their  dis- 
tress, had,  however,  no  efiiect  upon  the  mind  of  the  wicked 
Jezebel ;  for,  so  greatly  was  she  enraged  at  the  slaughter 
of  the  priests  of  Baal,  that  she  at  once  vowed  the  prophet's 
death.  To  avoid  the  effects  of  her  anger,  Elijah  withdrew 
to  Beersheba ;  and,  leaving  his  servant  at  that  place,  he 
proceeded  alons  across  the  desert  to  Horeb,  "  the  Mount 
of  God."  Here,  where  the  law  had  been  originally  deliv- 
ered, the  Almighty  manifested  himself  to  his  servant — not 
in  the  whirlwind,  the  earthquake,  or  the  fire ;  but  in  "  a 
still  small  voice,"  which  spoke  comfort  to  his  desolate 
heart,  by  assuring  him  that,  though  he  deemed  himself 
the  only  worshipper  of  God  left  in  Israel,  there  were  yet 
"  seven  thousand  who  had  not  bowed  the  knee  to  Baal." 
He  was  then  directed  to  return  to  his  own  country,  and 
announce  to  Hazael  that  he  should  be  king  of  Syria,  to 
Jehu,  that  he  should  be  king  of  Israel,  and  to  Elisha  that 
he  should  be  his  successor  in  the  prophetic  office. 

In  the  eighteenth  year  of  Ahab's  reign,  Benhadad,  king 
of  Syria,  accompanied  by  thirty-two  tributary  princes,  and 
a  numerous  army,  invaded  his  kingdom,  and  laid  siege  to 
Samaria.  Unworthy  of  Divine  protection  as  the  wicked 
Ahab  was,  yet  the  Almighty,  for  the  glory  of  his  ow^n 
great  name,  sent  a  prophet  to  encourage  him  to  march 
out  against  this  vast  host  without  fear.  Ahab  followed 
the  directions  of  the  unknown  messenger ;  and,  with  a 
handful  of  men,  encountering  the  Syrians,  soon  gained  a 
signal  victory  over  them.  Mortified  at  this  defeat  Ben- 
hadad, in  the  following  year,  attempted,  by  a  fresh  invasion 
with  an  immense  army,  to  retrieve  what  he  had  lost; 
but  the  motive  which  prompted  to  the  second  invasion  was 
BO  dishonorable  to  the  God  of  Israel,  that  the  Almighty 
allowed  Ahab  again  to  triumph.  But  instead  of  availing 
himself  of  the  advantages  which  this  second  victory  afforded 


288  THE      ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

him,  for  destroying  the  Syrian  power,  Ahal)  now  entered 
into  an  alliance  with  Benhadad,  and  thus  greatly  offended 
his  Divine  protector,  and  brought  lasting  evils  upon  his 
own  house. 

Soon  after  this  second  triumph  of  Ahab  over  Benhadad, 
a  new  and  most  atrocious  crime  provoked  the  wrath  of 
the  Almighty  against  the  king  of  Israel,  and  his  whole 
family.  Ahab,  in  order  to  increase  his  garden,  v/as  anxious 
to  obtain  a  vineyard  which  belonged  to  Naboth,  a  native 
of  Jezreel ;  but  as  the  vineyard  was  a  family  inheritance, 
Naboth  was  not  willing  to  part  with  it.  The  purpose  of 
the  wicked  king  was  not,  however,  to  be  thwarted,  and  the 
still  more  wicked  Jezebel,  therefore,  soon  contrived  that 
the  innocent  man,  under  the  false  charge  of  blasphemy, 
should  be  stoned  to  death,  and  the  obstacle  to  their  gain- 
ing possession  of  the  vineyard  thus  violently  removed. 
But  Ahab  had  scarcely  taken  possession  of  the  vineyard, 
before  the  prophet  Elijah  appeared  and  denounced  upon 
the  guilty  king  the  most  fearful  vengeance  for  this  new 
crime.  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord,"  said  he ;  "  in  the  place 
where  dogs  licked  the  blood  of  Naboth,  shall  dogs  lick 
thy  blood,  even  thine.  And  because  thou  hast  sold  thy- 
self to  work  evil  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord,  therefore  the 
Lord  will  bring  evil  upon  thee,  and  will  take  away  thy 
prosperity,  and  make  thy  house  like  the  house  of  Jero- 
boam, the  son  of  Nebat.  And  Jezebel,  also,  shall  the 
dogs  eat  by  the  wall  of  Jezreel."  On  hearing  this  dreadful 
denunciation  Ahab  humbled  himself,  and  apparently  re- 
pented ;  in  consequence  of  which,  the  heaviest  part  of  this 
doom  was  deferred  to  the  time  of  his  successor.  Ahab 
was  soon  after  slain  in  an  expedition  against  the  Syrians, 
in  897  A.  C,  and  in  the  twenty-second  year  of  his  r-elgn. 


KINGS     OF     ISRAEL,  289 


SECTION   II. 

Ahaziah  : — His  Idolatry  and  Death — Jehoram — The  Translation  ot 
Elijah — Elisha  succeeds  him — The  Miracle  of  the  Jordan — Jehu — 
Death  of  Jezebel,  and  Extirpation  of  the  Family  of  Ahab — Jeho- 
ram— JoASH — Death  of  Elisha — Jeroboam  the  Second — War  with 
the  Syrians — Interregnum — Zechariah— Shalt.um  —  Men  ahem — 
Increase  of  Idolatry — Pekahiah — Pekah — Hoshea — End  of  the 
Kingdom  of  Israel. 

Ahaziah,  the  son  and  successor  of  Ahab,  adhered  to 
all  the  abominable  idolatry  which  his  father  had  prac- 
ticed. In  the  second  year  of  his  reign,  he  was  severely 
injured  by  a  fall  from  an  upper  window  of  his  palace ;  and 
fears  being  entertained  for  his  life,  he  sent  messengers  to 
consult  the  oracle  of  Baal-Zebub,  the  fly-god  of  Ekron, 
respecting  his  recovery.  On  their  way  the  messengers 
were  met  by  Elijah,  who  predicted  the  approaching  death 
of  the  king,  as  a  punishment  for  designing  to  consult  false 
gods.  Ahaziah  sent  two  detachments  of  fifty  men  each 
to  arrest  the  prophet ;  but  both  companies  were  consumed 
by  fire  from  heaven.  A  third  captain  of  fifty  prevailed 
upon  Elijah  to  accompany  him  into  the  king's  presence ; 
but  the  prophet  no  sooner  appeared  before  Ahaziah,  than 
he  informed  him  that,  for  impiously  forsaking  the  God 
of  Israel,  and  consulting  false  gods,  he  should  rise  no 
more  from  the  bed  on  which  he  had  lain  down.  Ahaziah 
accordingly  died,  after  a  reign  of  two  years,  895  A.  C. 

Ahaziah  having  no  son,  was  succeeded  by  his  brother 
Jehoram.  This  prince  was  less  prone  to  idolatry  than 
his  father  and  brother  had  been  ;  and  he,  therefore,  pro- 
hibited the  worship  of  the  Sidonian  Baal,  though,  from 
political  considerations,  he  retained  the  golden  calves 
which  Jeroboam  had  set  up  at  Dan  and  Bethel.  The  first 
year  of  his  reign  was  distinguished  by  one  of  the  most  ex- 
traordinary events  in  the  history  of  our  race — the  transla- 
13 


290  THE     ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

tion  to  heaven  of  the  prophet  Elijah,  who  was  taken  thither 
from  earth  by  a  whirlwind,  in  a  chariot  and  horses  of  fire 
Elisha  was  present  to  witness  the  supernatural  scene  ;  and 
on  him  the  mantle  and  the  power  of  Elijah  devolved. 
This  was  soon  made  evident ;  for  the  Jordan,  when  smit- 
ten by  the  prophetic  mantle,  opened  to  allow  him  to  pass 
through;  at  his  word,  the  bitter  w^aters  of  Jericho  were 
made  sweet ;  and  his  malediction  brought  bears  from  the 
woods  to  destroy  a  company  of  young  men  who  insulted 
him,  and  mocked  at  the  translation  of  Elijah.  By  these 
indications  of  superhuman  power,  Elisha  at  once  became 
known  to  all  Israel  as  the  Divinely  chosen  successor  of 
Elijah ;  and,  dwelling  in  Samaria,  he  there,  in  his  pro- 
phetic capacity,  wrought  several  signal  miracles,  which 
gave  him  great  influence  with  the  people. 

Benhadad,  the  Syrian  monarch,  still  continued  his 
inroads  upon  the  kingdom  of  Israel ;  and  as  he  had  been 
defeated  in  several  successive  actions,  he  attributed  his  ill 
success  to  the  influence  of  Elisha.  He  therefore  sent  a  party 
of  his  soldiers  to  take  him  prisoner ;  but  the  Syrian  troops 
were  smitten,  while  on  their  way,  with  blindness,  and  in 
this  helpless  condition  easily  taken  captive.  Little  daunted 
by  these  reverses,  the  Syrian  king  now  assembled  a  large 
army,  advanced  against  Samaria,  blockaded  the  city,  and  re- 
duced the  inhabitants  to  the  greatest  extremities  of  famine 
— to  such  extremities,  that  women  were  even  compelled  to 
eat  the  flesh  of  their  own  children.  When  Jehoram  heard 
of  this,  he  rent  his  robes  with  horror ;  and  as  he  supposed 
Elisha  had  the  power  to  avert  these  evils,  he  swore  that  he 
should  be  put  to  death  that  very  day.  Aware  of  the  king's 
intention,  the  prophet  refused  to  admit  his  messenger  into 
his  house ;  but  when  Jehoram  himself  soon  after  followed, 
Elisha  announced  to  him  an  immediate  deliverance,  and  a 
Buperabundance  of  provisions  in  Sanxarig,  on  the  following 


KINGS     OF     ISRAEL.  291 

day.  This  announcement  seemed,  under  the  circumstances, 
incredible ;  but  during  the  night  following,  the  Syrians 
raised  the  siege  and  fled  away  in  great  alarm,  leaving  every- 
thing behind  them.  They  had  been  miraculously  made  to 
hear  the  noise  of  a  vast  host  of  chariots  and  horses,  which 
led  them  to  conclude  that  the  Israelites  had  obtained  relief 
from  the  neighboring  states  ;  and  hence  their  panic,  and 
its  consequences.  The  rich  plunder  of  the  vacant  Syrian 
tents  soon  restored  plenty  to  the  houses  of  the  Samari- 
tans ;  and  Benhadad,  after  his  return  to  his  own  kingdom, 
was  murdered  by  Hazael,  who  succeeded  to  the  throne, 
according  to  the  prediction  of  the  prophet  Elijah. 

Jehokam,  soon  after  the  death  of  Benhadad,  entered 
into  an  alliance  with  Ahaziah,  king  of  Judah,  in  order  to 
recover  Eamoth  Gilead ;  but  their  united  forces  were  de- 
feated by  the  Syrians,  and  the  king  of  Israel,  who  was 
severely  wounded  in  the  action,  retired  to  Jezreel  to  be 
healed  of  his  wounds.  In  the  mean  time  Elisha,  by  the 
command  of  the  Almighty,  sent  one  of  the  "  sons  of  the 
prophets"  to  anoint  Jehu  king  of  Israel ;  and  the  new 
sovereign,  who  w^as  a  general,  and  a  great  favorite  with  the 
army,  immediately  advanced  towards  Jezreel.  Hearing  of 
his  approach,  Jehoram  went  out  to  meet  him,  accompanied 
by  Ahaziah,  who  himself  was  also  of  the  house  of  Ahab. 
The  conference  between  them  was  very  brief:  Jehu  shot 
Jehoram  through  the  heart,  with  an  arrow,  and  ordered  his 
body  to  be  thrown  into  the  vineyard  of  Naboth ;  while 
Ahaziah,  who  had  fled,  was  overtaken  and  slain,  though 
his  servants  succeeded  in  conveying  his  body  to  Jerusalem, 
and  burying  it  in  the  sepulchre  of  his  fathers.  These  events 
occurred  884  A.  C. 

Jehu  immediately  advanced  to  Jezreel  without  opposi- 
tion but  as  he  entered  the  city,  Jezebel,  royally  arrayed, 
presented  hers(!lf  at  a  window  of  the  palace,  and  upbraided 


292  THE     ANC'lENT     HEBREWS. 

him  in  the  bitterest  terms,  for  his-  treason.  This  so  in- 
censed Jehu,  that  he  commanded  her  own  servants  to  cast 
her  headlong  down  upon  the  pavement  below;  Avhich 
having  been  done,  her  body  was  soon  trampled  under  foot 
by  horses.  In  the  evening  Jehu  gave  orders  for  her  inter- 
ment ;  but  on  examination,  it  was  found  that  the  greater 
part  of  the  body  had  been  devoured  by  dogs,  and  beasts 
of  prey,  according  to  the  prediction  of  Elijah.  The  rest 
of  Ahab's  family,  seventy  in  number,  were  in  Samaria,  and 
were  there  all  put  to  death  by  the  men  in  power,  and  their 
heads  sent  by  them  to  the  new  king,  in  evidence  of  their  sub- 
mission to  his  authority.  Jehu  now  completely  extirpated 
the  worship  of  Baal,  not  only  in  Samaria,  but  throughout 
every  part  of  his  kingdom;  but  he  still  continued  the 
idolatry  which  Jeroboam  had  established,  and  for  this 
reason  God  limited  the  duration  of  his  dynasty  to  his  de- 
scendants of  the  fourth  generation.  Jehu  died  m  856 
A.  C,  after  a  reign  of  twenty-eight  years,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  his  son,  Jehoahaz. 

Jehoahaz,  following  the  example  of  his  father,  adhered 
to  the  worship  of  the  golden  calves  ;  and  as  a  punishment 
for  thus  persisting  in  idolatry,  the  Syrians  were  allowed 
to  extend  their  authority  to  the  west  of  the  Jordan,  and 
so  far  to  prevail,  as  at  length,  to  leave  to  the  king  of 
Israel,  as  his  entire  force,  no  more  than  fifty  horsemen, 
ten  chariots,  and  ten  thousand  infantry.  In  this  reduced 
condition  of  his  kingdom  Jehoahaz  died,  in  839  A.  C, 
after  a  reign  of  seventeen  years. 

Jehoahaz  was  succeeded  on  the  throne  by  his  son,  Jo- 
ash.  This  king,  though  he  bears  a  better  character  than 
most  of  the  Israelitish  monarchs,  still  followed  in  the  steps 
of  Jeroboam.  He  had  scarcely  commenced  his  reign  be- 
fore he  heard  of  the  fatal  illness  of  Elisha ;  and  while  weep- 
ing at  his  death-bed,  the  aged  prophet  cheered  the  king 


KINGS     OF     ISRAEL.  293 

with  the  intelligence  that  God  designed  to  use  him  as  the 
instrument  of  delivering  Israel  from  the  oppression  of  the 
Syrians.  The  dying  words  of  Elisha  were  soon  verified ; 
for  in  three  successive  battles  which  soon  followed,  the 
Syrians  were  defeated,  and  the  cities  that  they  had  previ- 
ously taken,  restored  to  the  kingdom  of  Israel.  Joash 
also  repulsed  the  Moabites,  who  had  invaded  his  terri- 
tories ;  and  finally,  on  a  challenge  from  Amaziah,  king  of 
Judah,  met  the  army  of  that  monarch,  defeated  it,  and, 
entering  Jerusalem,  "  took  the  gold  and  silver,  and  the 
vessels  that  w^ere  found  in  the  Temple,  and  the  king's 
treasures,  and  returned  to  Samaria."  These  successes 
nartially  restored  Israel  to  its  former  glory ;  but  Joash  did 
not  long  live  to  enjoy  the  peace  and  prosperity  that  fol- 
lowed. He  died  in  823  A.  C,  after  a  reign  of  sixteen 
years,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Jeroboam  the 
second. 

Jeroboam  followed  in  the  steps  of  his  father.  He 
prosecuted  successfully  the  war  with  Syria,  retook  Damas- 
cus and  Hamath,  and  restored  the  ancient  borders  of  his 
kingdom.  These  successes  were  not,  however,  followed 
by  any  religious  reformation;  and  hence  the  Almighty 
now  began  to  warn  the  Israelites,  by  his  prophets  Jonah, 
Amos,  and  Hosea,  of  the  doom  of  captiv^ity  and  disper- 
sion which  their  crimes  would  speedily  bring  down  upon 
them.  Jeroboam  reigned  forty- one  years,  and  died  in 
782  A.  C. 

The  reign  of  Jeroboam  was  followed  by  an  interregnum 
of  eleven  years ;  which  was,  perhaps,  occasioned  by  the 
infancy  of  his  son,  Zechariah.  During  that  period,  the 
country  fell  into  such  a  state  of  anarchy  and  confusion, 
that  the  people  were  at  length  compelled  to  place  Zecha- 
riah, though  still  very  young,  upon  the  throne  of  his 
fathers.     It  was  soon   found,  however,  that   he  was  not 


294  THE     ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

equal  to  the  emergency  of  the  times;  and  after  having 
reigned  buA  six  months,  the  young  king  was  murdered  by 
one  Shallum,  who  immediately  usurped  the  government. 
Thus  ended,  in  771  A.  C,  the  dynasty  of  Jehu,  as  had 
been  foretold  by  the  prophet. 

Shallum  did  not,  however,  long  retain  the  power  he 
had  attained  by  the  death  of  Zechariah ;  for  he  was  him- 
self assassinated  by  Menahem,  about  six  months  after  he 
ascended  the  throne.  But  the  act  of  Menahem  was  not 
sanctioned  by  public  opinion,  and  the  nation  generally 
refused  to  acknowledge  his  authority.  In  this  distracted 
state  of  the  country,  the  Assyrians,  a  new  enemy,  first 
made  their  appearance,  under  Pul,  supposed,  by  some 
writers,  to  be  the  Sardanapalus  of  profane  history.  This 
conqueror  was  advancing  to  invade  Israel  when  Menahem 
made  submission  to  him,  and,  by  the  payment  of  a  thou- 
sand talents  of  silver,  procured  his  assistance  against  bis 
own  refractory  subjects. 

Menahem  exercised,  with  great  severity,  the  power  he 
had  thus  acquired  by  foreign  aid ;  and  the  heavy  annual 
tribute  which  he  had  engaged  to  pay  the  Assyrians,  in 
some  degree  compelled  him  to  extort  large  sums  of  money 
from  the  people.  Israel  was,  by  this  means,  soon  reduced 
to  the  most  deplorable  condition.  The  land  became  im- 
poverished, and  the  people  exasperated;  and  the  Assyrians, 
having  so  largely  profited  by  their  previous  invasions  of 
the  country,  were  ready  to  avail  themselves  of  any  pretext 
for  repeating  the  experiment.  Unfortunately,  the  state  of 
religion  and  morals  corresponded  with  this  external  con- 
dition. With  the  rapid  growth  of  idolatry,  and  the  neglect 
of  that  religious  system  which,  when  observed,  had  ever 
been  the  true  glory  of  the  nation,  the  people  lost  all  love 
for  the  good  and  the  beautiful,  and  gave  themselves  up  to 
the  grossest  abominations  that  the  heart  of  man  can  con 


KINGS     OF    ISRAEL.  295 

ceive.  It  thus  became  evident  that  they  were  fast  ripening 
for  that  destruction  of  which  the  prophets  had  so  faithfully- 
forewarned  them.  In  760  A.  C,  after  a  troubled  reign  of 
ten  years,  Menahem  died,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son 
Pekahiaii. 

Of  Pekaiiiah  nothing  farther  is  known  than  that,  after 
a  turbulent  reign  of  two  years,  he  was  murdered  by 
Pekah,  one  of  his  generals,  who  usurped  the  throne. 

Pekah,  though  a  wicked  and  sanguinary  prince,  yet,  on 
account  of  the  sins  of  Ahaz,  king  of  Judah,  was  permitted 
to  prevail  over  the  rival  kingdom.  In  conjunction  with 
Kezin,  king  of  Damascus,  he  invaded  Judah,  and  brought 
away  a  vast  number  of  captives ;  but  upon  the  injunction 
of  the  prophet  Obed,  he  immediately  restored  them  all  to 
their  own  country.  Notwithstanding  this  single  act  of 
obedience,  however,  the  sins  of  the  Israelites  continued  to 
increase,  and  the  threatened  punishment  began,  therefore, 
to  be  inflicted.  The  Assyrian  hosts  ravaged  all  the  coun- 
try beyond  the  Jordan ;  the  interior  of  the  kingdom  was 
torn  by  factions,  and  in  the  midst  of  these  tumults  Pekah, 
after  a  reign  of  twenty  years,  was  slain  by  Hoshea,  739 

A.  a 

After  two  years  of  civil  war,  Hoshea  succeeded  in  fix- 
ing himself  upon  the  throne ;  but  during  the  interval,  the 
Assyrians,  under  Tiglath-pileser,  and  his  son  Shalmaneser, 
overran  the  kingdom  and  rendered  it  tributary.  As  soon 
as  his  title  to  the  crown  was  established,  Hoshea  became 
anxious  to  render  himself  independent  of  his  oppressors ; 
and,  with  this  view,  he  entered  into  alliance  with  Sabaco, 
an  Ethiopian  prince  who  had  recently  subdued  Egypt. 
Shalmaneser,  hearing  of  this  alliance,  immediately  in- 
vaded the  country  with  an  immense  force,  and  laid  siege 
to  Samaria  the  capital.  After  a  brave  resistance  of  three 
years  the  city  was  taken  by  storm,  Hoshea,  the  king,  sent 


296  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

in  chains  to  Nineveh,  and  the  people  carried  captive  into 
some  distant  region  beyond  the  Euphrates. 

Thus,  in  719  A.  C,  perished  the  kingdom  of  Israel,  after 
having  existed,  as  a  separate  state,  two  hundred  and  seven- 
ty-one years.  The  country  was  reduced  to  the  condition 
of  an  Assyrian  province,  and  re-peopled  by  new  settlers 
brought  from  the  region  of  the  Lower  Tigris  and  Euphra- 
tes.  These,  after  some  years  had  elapsed,  gradually  amal- 
gamated with  those  Israelites  who  had  been  permitted  to 
remain  in  the  land;  and,  in  conjunction  with  them,  they 
eventually  formed  a  religious  creed  founded  entirely  upoii 
the  Books  of  Moses.  Between  them,  however,  and  the 
people  of  Judah,  the  bitterest  enmity  ever  after  existed. 


CHAPTER     THE     SIXTH. 
KINGS   OF  JUDAH. 

SECTION  I. 

Rehoboam  :— His  Apostasy— Invasion  of  Shishak,  King  of  Egypt— 
Abijah— Successful  Invasion  of  Israel— Asa— His  Reformations-- 
Victory  over  the  Ethiopians— League  with  the  Syrians— His  Death, 
and  Character— Jehoshaphat— Measures  to  secure  the  Peace  and 
Prosperity  of  his  Kingdom— Unites  with  Ahab,  King  of  Israel, 
against  the  Svrians— Forms  other  Alliances  with  Israel—Triumphs 
over  the  united  Forces  of  his  Enemies— Happy  Close  of  his  Keign. 

We  now  return  to  the  history  of  the  kingdom  of  Judah. 
When  Rehoboam,  who  still  remained  at  Shechem,  heard 
that  the  ten  tribes  had  determined  to  throw  off  their  alle- 
giance to  him,  he  became  alarmed,  and  sent  Adoram,  the 
collector,  to  appease  the  people,  and  to  promise  them  that 
their  taxes  should  be  abated.  This  proposed  pacification 
came,  however,  too  late ;  for  their  passions  were  now  so 
excited  that  they  immediately  fell  upon  the  collector  and 
stoned  him  to  death.  Upon  receiving  intelligence  of  this 
sad  event,  Rehoboam  immediately  entered  his  chariot  and 
hastened  to  Jerusalem,  in  order  to  secure  the  adherence  of 
the  tribes  of  Judah  and  Benjamin  to  the  house  of  David. 

Fired  with  resentment  at  the  insult  given  to  himself,  in 
the  person  of  his  collector,  Adoram,  Rehoboam  resolved  to 
punish  the  disaffected  Israelites  with  the  utmost  severity. 
With  this  view  he  collected,  immediately  after  his  return 
to  Jerusalem,  from  the  two  tribes  that  remained  firm  in 
their  allegiance  to  him,  one  hundred  and  eighty  thousand 
choice  troops,  which  he  designed  to  lead  against  the  ten  re- 
13* 


298  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

volting  tribes,  and  reduce  them  at  once  to  obedience.  But 
in  the  midst  of  these  warlike  preparations  the  prophet  She- 
maiah  appeared  before  him,  and,  under  Divine  inspiration, 
directed  him  to  desist  from  attempting  to  prosecute  his 
design,  as  it  was  the  will  of  God,  according  to  the  pre- 
diction of  the  prophet  Ahijah,  that  the  division  of  the  king- 
dom should  take  place.  On  receiving  this  prophetic  declara- 
tion, Kehoboam  at  once  disbanded  his  army ;  after  which, 
for  his  own  defense,  he  built  and  garrisoned  several  strong- 
holds in  different  parts  of  the  country,  and  placed  large 
magazines  in  all  the  cities  that  were  in  the  immediate 
vicinity  of  his  capital. 

As  a  matter  of  state  policy  Kehoboam,  during  the  first 
three  years  of  his  reign,  sustained  the  true  worship  of 
God  at  Jerusalem ;  but  as  soon  as  the  subjects  of  Jero 
boam  ceased  to  repair  thither  to  worship,  he  threw  off  the 
mask,  and  both  he  and  his  people  became  more  idolatrous 
than  even  their  wicked  neighbors  of  Israel.  They  not 
only  "  built  them  high  places,  and  images,  and  groves,  on 
every  high  hill,"  but,  to  add  to  their  gross  impiety,  they 
introduced  every  detestable  act  of  wickedness  for  which 
the  ancient  Canaanites  had  been  so  justly  expelled  from 
the  country. 

To  punish  Kehoboam  for  this  apostasy  the  Almighty, 
in  the  fifth  year  of  that  prince's  reign,  allowed  Shishak, 
king  of  Egypt,  to  invade  the  land  ;  and  after  having  taken 
several  fortified  towns,  he  entered  Jerusalem,  and  carried 
off"  the  treasures  of  the  Temple  and  the  palace,  together 
with  the  golden  shields  of  Solomon.  As  this  severe  punish- 
ment produced  the  desired  repentance,  the  remaining 
twelve  years  of  Kehoboam's  reign  were  prosperous ;  and 
at  his  death,  which  occurred  958  A.  C,  and  in  the 
eighteenth  year  of  his  reign,  he  left  a  peaceful  sceptre  to 
his  son  and  successor   Abijah. 


KINGS     OF     JUDAH.  299 

Abijah  was  the  son  of  Eehoboam  by  Maachah,  the 
grand  daughter  of  Absalom.  Though  young,  he  was  an 
active  and  martial  prince ;  and  he  resolved,  therefore,  to 
bring  back,  by  force  of  arms,  the  ten  tribes  to  obedience. 
For  this  purpose  he  raised  an  army  of  four  hundred 
thousand  men  and  marched  against  Jeroboam,  who  met 
him  with  a  force  of  double  that  number.  As  soon  as  the 
two  armies  were  drawn  up  in  order  of  battle,  Abijah 
ascended  Mount  Zemaraim,  and  thence  addressing  the 
Israelitish  army,  he  pointed  out  the  injustice  of  their  revolt 
from  his  father  Kehoboam ;  his  own  right  to  the  entire 
kingdom,  as  God  had  given  it  to  David,  and  his  pos- 
terity ;  and  the  expectation  he  had  of  the  Divine  assistance 
in  the  approaching  contest,  since  the  religion  of  the  Israel- 
ites had  become  false  and  idolatrous,  while  the  men  of 
Judah  preserved  the  pure  worship  of  the  living  God, 
having  his  Temple  and  his  ordinance  in  their  midst. 

Before  Abijah  had  finished  his  address,  Jeroboam,  con- 
fident of  victory,  ordered  a  detachment  of  his  army  to  pass 
to  the  rear  in  order  to  cut  off"  their  retreat.  This  move- 
ment greatly  alarmed  the  troops  of  Abijah ;  but  he,  with 
consummate  address,  raised  their  courage,  and  then  ex- 
horted them  to  depend  exclusively  on  the  aid  of  the 
Almighty,  who,  he  was  assured,  would  render  abortive  any 
efforts  against  the  righteous  cause  in  which  they  were  en- 
gaged. In  the  action  that  immediately  followed  Abijah 
gained  a  complete  victory — five  hundred  thousand  of  the 
enemy  being  left  dead  upon  the  field  of  battle.  This  victory 
was  followed  by  the  capture  of  several  of  the  border  towns 
of  Israel,  among  which  was  Bethel,  the  seat  of  one  of  the 
golden  calves.  We  are  not  informed,  however,  that  Abi- 
jah destroyed  the  idol ;  and  it  seems  that  the  town  itself 
was  ultimately  recovered  by  Israel. 

Had  the  life  of  Abijah  been  prolonged,  it  is  probable 


300  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

that,  in  the  course  of  a  few  years,  he  would  have  succeeded 
in  reducing  the  whole  kingdom  of  Israel  to  subjection 
to  his  authority ;  but  the  Almighty  had  different  purposes 
in  view  with  regard  to  that  people,  and,  therefore,  he  now 
removed  the  agent  with  which  he  had  so  severely  chas- 
tised them.  Abijah  died  955  A.  C,  in  the  third  year 
of  his  reign,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Asa. 

Asa  was  a  prince  of  great  piety  and  virtue,  and  "  did 
that  which  w^as  right  in  the  eyes  of  the  Lord,  as  did  David, 
his  father."  As  he  enjoyed  the  happiness  of  a  settled 
peace  for  the  first  ten  years  of  his  reign,  he  wisely  em- 
ployed his  time  in  removing  the  gross  vices  which,  iv 
former  reigns,  had  been  introduced  into  his  kingdom.  Ho 
broke  down  the  idols  and  demolished  their  altars  in  all  the 
cities  of  Judah,  and  employed  all  the  means  in  his  powder 
to  restore  the  true  worship  of  God.  He  also  fortified 
several  cities  on  the  frontiers  of  his  kingdom,  and  trained 
80  many  of  his  subjects  in  the  art  of  war,  that  he  jsoon  had 
an  army  consisting  of  five  hundred  and  eighty  thousand, 
all  of  whom  were  men  of  true  courage,  and  prepared  to 
hazard  their  lives  in  defense  of  their  country. 

While  the  kingdom  of  Judah  was  thus  in  the  full  enjoy- 
ment of  peace  and  prosperity,  Asa,  in  9-11  A.  C,  was 
suddenly  surprised  by  an  invasion  of  his  country  by  the 
Cushites,  or  Ethiopians,  under  Zerah,  their  king.  The 
army  of  this  enemy  contained  a  million  of  men,  besides 
three  hundred  armed  chariots.  To  meet  this  vast  host 
the  pious  Asa  went  forth  with  a  comparatively  small  force, 
confident  that  the  Almighty  could,  with  equal  facility, 
enable  him  to  prevail  with  few  or  with  many.  As  he  ap- 
proached the  valley  of  Zephathah,  in  the  southern  part  of 
his  kingdom,  and  beheld  the  formidable  power  of  Zerah, 
he,  in  the  presence  of  his  whole  army,  bowed  himself  be- 
fore the  Lord,  and  with  the  utmost  devotion,  offered  the 


KINGS     OF     JUDAH.  301 

following  fervent  prayer :  ^'  Lord,  it  is  nothing  with  thee 
to  help,  whether  with  many,  or  with  them  that  have  no 
power:  help  us,  0  Lord,  our  God;  for  we  rest  in  thee, 
and  in  thy  name  we  go  against  this  multitude.  0  Lord, 
thou  art  our  God :  let  no  man  prevail  against  thee." 

Having  thus  placed  his  cause  in  the  hands  of  the  Al- 
mighty, Asa  boldly  assailed  the  enemy ;  and  as  God,  at 
the  same  time,  infused  a  general  fear  into  the  minds  of  the 
Ethiopians,  they  immediately  gave  Avay — advantage  of 
which  being  taken  by  the  army  of  Asa,  vast  numbers  of 
the  enemy  were  killed  on  the  spot,  and  the  rest  fled  with 
the  utmost  precipitation.  Asa  and  his  victorious  army 
closely  pursued  the  fugitives,  killed  many  in  their  flight, 
took  the  spoils  of  their  camp,  carried  away  their  cattle, 
smote  the  cities  that  were  in  league  with  them,  and  then 
returned  in  triumph  to  Jerusalem. 

As  Asa,  on  his  return  with  his  victorious  army,  ap- 
proached Jerusalem,  he  was  met  by  the  prophet  Ahaziah, 
who  reminded  him  that  his  recent  triumph  over  his  ene- 
mies must  be  attributed  entirely  to  the  interposition  of  the 
Almighty ;  and  that,  in  order  to  secure  a  continuance  of 
the  same  favor,  he  must  persevere  in  the  righteous  reforma- 
tion which  he  had  so  happily  commenced.  Encouraged 
by  this  assurance  of  Divine  favor,  he,  during  the  succeeding 
five  years,  followed  up  his  reformations  with  a  still  more 
vigorous  and  less  sparing  hand.  Even  Maachah,  his  own 
grand  mother,  and  the  guardian  of  his  youth,  was  banished 
from  court  on  account  of  her  idolatries.  Judah,  by  these 
vast  reformations,  now  contrasted  so  favorably  with 
Israel,  that  multitudes  of  the  well-disposed  subjects  of 
the  latter  kingdom  removed  into  the  former. 

Alarmed  at  the  defection  of  so  many  of  his  subjects, 
Baasha,  king  of  Israel,  adopted  the  measures  which  have 
already  been  mentioned,  to  check  the  communication  be- 


302  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

tween  the  two  kingdoms.  Asa  observed  these  measures 
of  Baasha  with  great  concern  ;  and  as  lie  regarded  them 
as  a  prelude  only  to  farther  encroachments,  he  resolved  to 
stop  his  progress  before  it  should  be  too  late.  With  this 
view  he  induced  Benhadad,  king  of  Syria,  by  offering  him 
presents  in  gold  and  silver,  to  make  a  diversion  in  his 
favor.  Benhadad,  accordingly,  immediately  attacked 
several  cities  of  the  Israelites,  and  thus  forced  Baasha  to 
abandon  his  design  of  fortifying  Eamah,  in  order  to  defend 
other  parts  of  his  kingdom. 

The  conduct  of  Asa,  in  applying  to  Benhadad  for  assist- 
ance on  this  occasion,  was,  certainly,  very  inexcusable. 
It  evidently  impHed  a  distrust  of  God's  power  and  willing- 
ness to  aid  him;  and  the  Almighty,  therefore,  sent  the 
prophet  Jehu,  the  son  of  Hanani,  to  reprove  him  for 
it.  But  instead  of  receiving  the  reproof  with  a  meek  and 
quiet  temper,  he  was  so  exasperated,  that  he  put  the  pro- 
phet in  chains,  and  ordered  many  of  his  subjects,  who 
favored  the  course  of  Jehu,  to  be  put  to  death. 

The  close  of  Asa's  life  was  marked  by  a  peevish  and 
fretful  temper.  He  was  afflicted  with  a  grievous  disease 
in  his  feet,  which  was,  perhaps,  what  we  now  call  the 
gout ;  and  this  eventually  caused  his  death,  in  the  forty- 
first  year  of  his  reign,  and  914  A.  C.  Instead  of  being 
buried  according  to  the  usual  custom  of  the  Hebrews, 
Asa's  body  was  burned  with  perfumes  and  spices,  after 
which  his  bones  and  ashes  were  collected  together  and 
buried  with  the  utmost  magnificence,  in  a  sepulchre  which 
he  had  previously  prepared  for  himself  in  the  city  of 
David. 

Asa  was  one  of  the  few  kings  of  Judah  who  obtained 
the  testimony  that  he  walked  in  the  steps  of  David  his 
father.  His  sincere  and  prudent  zeal  against  the  idolatry 
of  his  immediate  ancestors,  and   the  thoroughness  with 


KINGS     OF     JUAAH.  303 

which  he  carried  out  the  reformation,  entitle  him  to  a  place 
among  the  hest  of  the  kings.  He  kept  steadily  in  view 
his  true  position  as  the  vicegerent  of  the  Almighty,  who 
was  the  real  king  of  his  people.  He  acted  generally  from 
conscience,  and  not  from  policy ;  and  though  some  of  his 
latter  years  were  stained  with  unbelief  and  cruelty,  yet  the 
prevailing  purpose  of  his  life  was,  "  to  seek  the  Lord  God 
of  his  fathers  with  all  his  heart." 

Jehoshaphat,  the  son  and  successor  of  Asa,  excelled 
even  his  excellent  father  in  piety  and  virtue.  After  having 
first  established  garrisons  in  the  several  ungarrisoned  cities 
of  his  dominions,  he  next  removed  those  idolatrous  high 
places  and  groves  which  Asa  had  left  undisturbed.  Be- 
coming now  convinced  that  the  most  effectual  means  of 
preventing  the  return  of  the  corruptions  which  had,  with 
so  much  difficulty,  been  rooted  out,  was  to  provide  for  the 
suitable  instruction  of  the  people,  he,  in  the  third  year  of 
his  reign,  sent  out  through  all  the  cities  of  Judah  a  num- 
ber of  chiefs  or  jwinces,  whose  rank  and  influence  secured 
respect  and  attention,  to  the  priests  and  Levites,  who  were 
to  aid  them  in  instructing  the  people  in  the  law  of  Moses. 
The  king  himself  also  made  a  tour  through  his  dominions, 
in  order  to  see  that  his  instructions  were  thoroughly  car- 
ried out. 

Such  wise  and  judicious  measures,  even  in  the  infancy 
of  his  government,  at  once  secured  the  hearts  of  the 
people ;  and  to  enable  the  king  to  support  his  dignity  as 
sovereign,  they  brought  him  rich  presents  from  every  part 
of  his  dominions.  Even  the  Philistines  came  voluntarily 
and  paid  him  a  tribute,  which  they  had  for  some  years 
withheld;  and  the  Arabians,  whose  wealth  consisted  in 
their  herds  and  cattle,  sent  him  annually,  .as  an  acknow- 
ledgment of  their  homage,  seven  thousand  seven  hundred 
ramSj  and  the  same  number  of  he-goats. 


304  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

To  secure  himself  in  this  tranquil  state,  Jyhoshaphat 
took  the  utmost  care  to  make  himself  strong  in  arms,  as 
well  as  in  wealth.  He  formed  an  army  of  eleven  hundred 
and  sixty  thousand  men,  besides  those  who  were  in  gar- 
risons and  such  fortified  places  as  he  had  abundantly  sup- 
plied with  all  kinds  of  military  stores.  In  short,  he  was 
rich  and  happy,  great  and  powerful  ;  beloved  by  his  sub- 
jects, and  revered  by  his  enemies.  This  unusual  pros- 
perity continued,  unalloyed,  during  more  than  half  of  his 
reign ;  but  at  length  he  committed  the  great  mistake  of 
forming  an  alliance  with  the  impious  Ahab,  king  of 
Israel,  by  uniting  his  son  Jehoram  in  marriage  with  Atha- 
liah,  the  daughter  of  that  wicked  monarch. 

The  connection  thus  formed,  produced  a  friendly  inter 
course  between  the  two  kings  ;  and  while  Jehoshaphat,  soon 
after,  was  on  a  visit  to  Ahab,  he  permitted  himself  to  be 
persuaded  by  that  king  to  join  him  in  an  expedition  to 
recover  Eamoth-Gilead  from  the  Syrians.  The  two  kings, 
accordingly,  marched,  at  the  head  of  their  respective  forces, 
against  the  place ;  but  in  the  battle  that  followed,  Ahab 
was  killed  by  a  random  shot,  or  "  a  bow  drawn  at  a  ven- 
ture," and  Jehoshaphat  narrowly  escaped  with  his  life  to 
Jerusalem.  On  the  way  thither  he  was  met  by  the  pro- 
phet Jehu,  who  severely  reproved  him  for  having  formed 
any  connection  with  the  wicked  and  idolatrous  Ahab. 
This  rebuke  so  deeply  aftected  the  king,  that  he  no  sooner 
arrived  at  Jerusalem  than  he  offered  a  public  sacrifice  in 
acknowledgment  of  his  error,  and  earnestly  prayed  that 
his  offense  might  be  forgiven. 

In  order  to  prove  the  sincerity  of  his  repentance,  Jeho- 
shaphat evinced  fresh  zeal  for  the  purity  of  religious  wor- 
ship, and  the  happiness  of  his  subjects ;  and,  that  he  might 
personally  witness  the  effect  of  his  recent  directions  for 
their  instruction,  he  again  passed  through  every  part  of 


KINGS     OF     J  U  D  A  11  .  305 

his  dominions.  He  observed,  during  this  tour,  that  many 
abuses  still  existed ;  and  to  remedy  these  he  instituted 
courts,  both  civil  and  religious,  in  all  the  chief  cities  of 
the  land,  with  two  superior  courts  of  appeal  at  Jerusalem. 
Over  the  former  of  these  courts,  Zebadiah,  ruler  of  the 
house  of  Judah,  presided,  and  over  the  latter,  Amariah, 
the  chief  priest. 

Jehoshaphat  next  turned  his  attention  to  the  re-opening 
of  the  maritime  traffic  which  Solomon  had  so  successfully 
carried  on  by  the  way  of  the  Eed  Sea.  He,  however,  un- 
wisely allowed  Ahaziah,  king  of  Israel,  to  unite  with  him 
in  this  enterprise ;  in  consequence  of  which  the  Almighty 
refused  to  prosper  the  undertaking,  and  the  ships  were, 
accordingly,  destroyed  by  a  storm,  soon  after  they  had 
left  the  port  of  Ezion-Geber.  Informed  by  the  prophet 
Eliezer  of  the  cause  of  this  misfortune,  Jehoshaphat  aban- 
doned the  enterprise  altogether,  and  returned  to  Jeru- 
salem. 

In  the  separation  of  the  kingdoms  of  Judah  and  Israel, 
Moab  fell  under  the  dominion  of  the  latter  ;  and  it  remain- 
ed in  subjection  until  the  death  of  Ahab,  when  it  attempted 
to  throw  off  the  Israelitish  yoke.  To  reduce  them  again 
to  obedience  the  king  of  Israel  obtained  the  aid  of  Jehosha- 
phat ;  and  this  so  exasperated  the  Moabites,  that  they  de- 
termined to  wreak  their  vengeance  upon  the  king  of  Judah. 
With  this  view,  assisted  by  the  Ammonites,  the  Edomites, 
and  some  Arabian  tribes,  they  raised  an  immense  army 
and  encamped  at  Engedi,  within  thirty  miles  of  Jeru- 
salem. 

Conscious  of  his  inability  to  meet  this  vast  host  without 
Divine  aid,  "Jehoshaphat  feared,  and  set  himself  to  seek 
the  Lord,  and  proclaimed  a  fast  throughout  all  Judah." 
He  immediately  after  convened  a  general  assembly  of  the 
people,  and,  standing  in  their  presence  in  the  court  of  the 


306  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

Temple,  lie  offered  up  an  earnest  prayer,  acknowledging 
the  sovereign  power  of  the  Almighty  in  all  things ;  plead- 
in"-  his  promise  to  hear  the  cries  of  his  people  in  every 
emergency ;  urging  their  present  danger  and  distress,  as  a 
reason  for  his  present  interposition  in  their  behalf;  and 
then  closing  his  petition  with  these  memorable  words : — 
"  0  our  God,  wilt  thou  not  judge  them  I  for  we  have  no 
might  against  this  great  company  that  cometh  against 
us;  neither  know  we  what  to  do;  but  .our  eyes  are  upon 
thee." 

The  prayer  of  the  king  was  scarcely  closed  before 
Jahaziel,  a  Levite,  moved  by  the  spirit  of  the  Lord, 
appeared  in  the  midst  of  the  assembly,  and  encouraged 
them  to  go  without  fear,  and  meet  the  enemy  ;  "  for,"  said 
he,  "  the  battle  is  not  yours,  but  God's."  This  welcome 
intelligence  so  deeply  affected  the  king  and  the  whole 
assembly,  that  they  immediately  bowed  their  faces  to  the 
earth,  and  offered  to  the  Almighty  unfeigned  thanksgiv- 
ings. In  the  following  morning  they  marched  forth, 
according  to  the  directions  of  the  prophet,  to  meet  the 
foe ;  but  not  so  much  in  the  strength  of  arms,  as  in  the 
strength  of  faith.  In  front  of  the  army  Jehoshaphat  placed 
a  band  of  singers,  who  chanted  forth,  as  they  advanced, 
"  Praise  the  Lord,  for  his  mercy  endureth  forever."  As 
they  approached  the  army  of  the  allies,  these  singers  raised 
their  voices  to  the  highest  pitch ;  confusion  and  disorder 
amongst  their  enemies  immediately  followed ;  and  when 
the  army  of  Jehoshaphat  reached  the  scene  of  their  strife, 
their  enemies  were  fallen,  "  and  nothing  was  left  for  them 
but  to  take  the  spoils  of  the  slain." 

The  spoil  taken  upon  this  occasion  was  so  great  that 
it  occupied  the  army  of  Jehoshaphat  three  days  to  gather  it 
together;  and  as  they  advanced  with  it  towards  Jerusalem, 
they  halted  in  the  valley  of  Shaveh,  and  there  offered  a 


KINGS     OF     JUDAH.  307 

solemn  thanksgiving  to  their  Divine  Deliverer.  The  few 
remaining  years  of  the  life  of  this  excellent  prince  Avere 
devoted  to  the  farther  improvement  of  his  subjects  and 
his  kingdom;  and  at  his  death,  which  occurred  in  the 
twenty-sixth  year  of  his  reign,  and  the  sixty-first  of  his 
age,  889  A.  C,  he  was  buried  in  the  land  of  his  fathers, 
in  the  city  of  David. 


SECTION    II. 


Jehoram  : — The  evil  Consequences  of  his  marriage  wilh  Athaliah- 
Ahaziah — Athahah  usurps  the  Government — Her  death — Jehoash 
-_Repau-s  tlie  Temple  and  the  City^-Death  of  the  High-Priest,  Zncha- 
riah — Punishment  of  Jehoash — Amaziah — Restores  the  worship  of 
the  Temple— Resolves  to  reduce  the  Edomites— Ordered  by  the 
Prophet  to  dismiss  his  Israelitish  Allies— Is  disgracefully  defeated  by 
the  King  of  Israel. 

Jehoram,  the  son  and  successor  of  the  pious  Jehosha- 
phat,  came  to  the  throne  of  Jndah  in  889  A.  C,  and  in 
the  thirty-tliird  year  of  his  age.  The  evil  consequences 
of  his  marriage  with  Athaliah,  the  daughter  of  Ahab,  now 
appeared  in  all  their  fearfulness.  Through  her  influence 
Jehoram,  in  the  very  commeticement  of  his  reign,  was 
induced  to  subvert  the  worship  of  the  Alrciighty,  and  to 
introduce  all  the  corruptions  that  prevailed  in  the  kingdom 
of  Israel.  This  act  of  sinful  apostasy  was  followed  by 
crimes  of  the  most  revolting  character.  Jehoshaphat,  his 
father,  had  six  other  sons,  each  of  whom  he  had,  during 
his  own  lifetime,  settled  as  governor  of  a  fenced  city,  with 
an  independent  income.  All  these,  together  with  many 
other  of  the  chief  men  of  the  nation,  Jehoram  caused  to 
be  brutally  murdered. 

Tidings  of  these  acts  of  gross  wickedness  soon  reached 
the  prophet  Elisha ;  and  he,  under  Divine  inspiration,  at 


308  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

once  denounced  the  vengeance  of  the  Almighty  upon  Je- 
horam  and  his  house.  This  vengeance  was  speedily  exe- 
cuted. The  Edomites  revolted,  "  and  made  themselves  a 
king ;"  and  the  people  of  Lihnah,  a  city  on  the  borders  of 
Arabia,  shook  off  their  allegiance,  and  refused  any  longer 
to  acknowledge  him  as  their  sovereign.  These  were,  how- 
ever, but  the  beginning  of  Jehoram's  troubles ;  for  soon 
after,  the  Philistines  and  Arabians  invaded  his  dominions, 
ravaged  the  country,  plundered  his  palace,  carried  off  his 
wives  and  children,  with  the  exception  of  his  wife  Atha- 
liah,  and  his  son  Ahaziah,  and  returned  in  triumph  to  their 
homes. 

To  fill  up  the  measure  of  the  wdcked  king's  punishment, 
God  at  length  afflicted  him  with  an  awful  disease,  under 
the  influence  of  which  he  languished  in  great  torments  for 
two  years,  and  then  died,  in  the  eighth  year  of  his  reign — 
four  of  which  conjointly  with  his  father,  and  four  as  sole 
sovereign — 885  A.  C.  Jehoram  was  buried  in  the  city  of 
David ;  but  in  such  contempt  did  his  subjects  hold  him, 
that  instead  of  allowing  his  body  to  rest  in  the  sepulchre 
of  his  ancestors,  they  deposited  it  in  a  private  place  by 
itself. 

Ahaziah,  or  Jehoahaz,  the  youngest  son  of  Jehoram, 
succeeded  to  the  throne  in  the  twenty-second  year  of  his 
age.  His  character  varied  very  little  from  that  of  his 
father ;  and  being  connected  by  birth  with  the  house  of 
Ahab,  he  soon  identified  himself  with  them.  He  joined  his 
uncle,  Jehoram,  king  of  Israel,  in  another  effort  to  recover 
Ramoth-Gilead  from  the  Syrians.  In  the  battle  which 
followed  Jehoram  was  wounded,  in  consequence  of  which 
he  returned,  accompanied  by  Ahaziah,  to  Jezreel,  to  be 
healed.  The  conspiracy  of  Jehu,  whom  God  had  commis- 
sioned to  exterminate  the  house  of  Ahab,  immediately  fol- 
lowed, and  in   its   course  swept  off  both  Jehoram  and 


KINGS     OF     JUDAH.  309 

Ahaziah ;  but  while  the  body  of  the  former  was  cast  into 
the  field  of  Naboth,  unburied,  that  of  the  latter  was  con- 
veyed by  his  servants  to  Jerusalem,  and  buried  in  the  royal 
sepulchre.  The  death  of  Ahaziah  occurred  in  the  second 
year  of  his  reign,  884  A.  C. 

Athaliah,  the  queen-mother,  as  soon  as  she  heard  of  the 
death  of  her  son,  determined  to  take  the  government  of 
Judah  into  her  own  hands ;  and,  in  order  to  secure  her 
authority,  she  immediately  gave  orders  that  every  one  of 
the  line  of  David  who  possessed  an  hereditary  claim  to 
the  throne,  should  be  put  to  death.  These  orders  were  so 
strictly  executed,  that  of  the  entire  royal  family  none 
escaped  except  Jehoash,  the  infant  son  of  the  late  king. 
This  child,  then  only  one  year  old,  was  under  the  care  of 
Jehosheba,  the  wife  of  Jehoiada,  the  high-priest.  She  con- 
cealed him  for  some  time  in  her  own  house ;  but  for  his 
greater  safety  she  afterwards  kept  him  in  a  secret  apart- 
ment of  the  Temple,  where  she  nourished  him  for  six  years, 
and  none  knew  of  his  existence  but  herself  and  Jehoiada. 

In  the  mean  time  Athaliah  ruled  Judah  with  uncon- 
trolled authority.  She  established  the  worship  of  Baal  in 
every  part  of  the  land,  and  persecuted,  with  unrelenting 
severity,  all  who  still  adhered  to  the  worship  of  Jehovah. 
Thus  passed  the  six  years  of  Athaliah' s  reign ;  but  Je- 
hoiada, the  high-priest,  now  resolved  that  the  nation  should 
no  longer  endure  her  persecutions  and  oppressions.  He, 
therefore,  at  once  concerted  measures  to  place  the  young 
Jehoash  on  the  throne  of  his  ancestors.  With  this  view 
he  secretly  brought  over  to  h^s  interest  the  leading  men 
of  the  army,  and  many  of  the  chiefs  of  the  kingdom  ;  and 
having  bound  them  by  oath  to  fidelity,  he  dispersed  them 
through  the  kingdom,  to  summon  the  priests,  the  Levites, 
and  the  principal  men  cf  the  tribes,  to  meet  him,  without 
delay,  at  Jerusalem. 


310  THE      ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

As  soon  as  this  iinportant  assembly  came  together,  the 
high-priest  informed  them  of  the  existence  of  Jehoash,  the 
son  of  Ahaziah,  and  of  the  manner  in  which  his  life  had 
been  preserved ;  and  then  proposed  to  place  him  at  once 
upon  the  throne  of  David.  This  proposition  being  uni- 
versally approved  of  by  the  assembly,  they  first  armed 
themselves,  and  then  separated  into  three  parties — one  to 
guard  the  person  of  the  young  king,  and  the  other  two  to 
guard  the  avenues  to  the  Temple.  These  preparations  be- 
ing completed,  the  young  prince,  under  a  strong  escort  of 
priests,  was  carried  into  the  inner  court  of  the  Temple, 
and  was  there  anointed,  crowned,  and  proclaimed  king  of 
Judah. 

The  joyful  acclamations  of  the  people  soon  reached 
Athaliah  in  her  palace ;  and  summoning  her  guards,  she 
hastened  to  the  Temple  to  ascertain  the  cause  of  this  sud- 
den exultation.  Being  permitted  by  the  priests  to  enter, 
without  her  guards,  the  first  object  presented  to  her  view 
was  the  young  king,  seated  upon  a  temporary  throne,  with 
the  crown  of  royalty  upon  his  head,  and  surrounded  by 
the  most  distinguished  men  of  the  nation.  Terrified  by 
this  appalling  sight,  Athaliah  involuntarily  exclaimed, 
"  Treason,  treason  ;"  but  Jehoiada,  the  high-priest,  soon 
silenced  her,  by  ordering  the  guards  immediately  to  con- 
duct her  out  of  the  Temple  and  put  her  to  death;  as  that 
sacred  place  ouglit  not  to  be  polluted  by  the  blood  of  one 
so  abandoned  to  all  kinds  of  wickedness.  In  obedience  to 
these  orders,  the  guards  conducted  Athaliah  to  the  stable- 
gate  of  the  palace,  and  there,  without  opposition,  put  her 
to  death,  878  A.  C. 

Immediately  after  the  execution  of  Athaliah,  Jehoiada 
again  assembled  the  people  in  the  Temple,  and  administer- 
ed to  tliem  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  their  new  king.  He 
then  made  two  covenants,  one  between  the  Lord  and  the 


KINGS     OF     JUDAH.  311 

king  and  the  people,  and  the  other  between  the  kmg  and 
the  people  alone.  By  the  first,  the  worship  of  God  was 
to  be  restored,  and  idolatry  entirely  abolished ;  and  by  the 
second,  the  king  was  to  govern  according  to  law,  and  the 
people  to  pay  a  proper  reverence  to  him  as  their  legal  sove- 
reign. 

These  ceremonies  were  no  sooner  over,  than  the  whole 
multitude  hastened  to  the  temple  of  Baal,  which  had  been 
recently  built  near  Jerusalem ;  and,  after  destroying  the 
image  of  that  idol,  and  every  kind  of  ornament  within  the 
building,  they  levelled  the  whole  structure  with  the  ground. 
Jehoiada  now.  in  accordance  with  the  institution  of  Dav^d, 
committed  the  care  of  the  Temple  of  Jerusalem  to  the 
priests  and  the  Levites ;  and  in  accordance  with  the  law 
of  Moses,  appointed  a  solemn  sacrifice  and  incense  to  be 
offered  daily.  Having  thus  completely  reformed  the  Tlm- 
ple  service,  Jehoiada,  with  the  rulers  and  officers  of  the 
government,  conducted  Jehoash  to  the  palace,  seated  him 
on  the  royal  throne,  and  put  him  into  quiet  possession  of 
his  kingdom. 

Jehoash  was  seven  years  of  age  when  he  was  placed 
upon  the  throne,  and  during  his  minority  the  government 
was  well  administered  under  the  regency  of  Jehoiada,  who 
restored  the  worship  of  the  true  God ;  "  but  the  high  places 
were  not  taken  away." 

The  attention  of  Jehoash,  soon  after  he  assumed  the 
administration  of  the  government  himself,  was  directed  to 
the  dilapidated  condition  into  which  the  Temple  had  been 
permitted  to  fall  during  the  reign  of  Jehoram  and  Atha- 
liah ;  and  he,  therefore,  resolved  thoroughly  to  repair  it. 
As  the  royal  treasury  was,  however,  comparatively  empty, 
he  directed  Jehoiada,  the  high-priest,  to  devise  such  means 
for  collecting  the  requisite  sums  from  the  people  for  this 
purpose,  as  would  be  least  oppressive  to  them.     Accord- 


312  THE     ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

ingly,  in  the  twenty-third  year  of  Jehoash's  reign,  a  pro- 
clamation was  made  throughout  all  Judah,  requesting  the 
people  to  bring  to  the  treasury  of  the  Lord  the  collection 
that  Moses  laid  upon  them  in  the  wilderness.  "  Jehoiada, 
therefore,  took  a  chest,  and  made  a  hole  in  the  lid  of  it," 
and  into  this  all  the  money-gifts  for  the  Temple  were  de- 
posited. The  offerings  of  the  people  were  willingly  and 
liberally  made ;  and  after  a  short  time  the  high-priest  and 
the  king's  scribe  took  out  the  money  and  counted  it, 
"and  gave  it  to  those  that  did  the  work,  that  had  the 
oversight  of  the  Temple."  "  So  the  workmen  wrought, 
and  the  work  was  perfected  by  them,  and  they  set  the 
house  of  God  in  his  state,  and  strengthened  it." 

The  Temple  had  scarcely  been  restored  to  its  original 
purity  and  beauty,  before  the  nation  was  called  to  mourn 
the  loss  of  the  good  priest  Jehoiada.  His  life  had,  how- 
ever, been  prolonged  to  the  extraordinary  age  of  one  hun- 
dred and  thirty  years ;  and  at  his  death,  such  w^as  the 
reverence  in  which  his  memory  was  held,  that  he  was 
buried  in  the  royal  sepulchre. 

The  death  of  Jehoiada  was  productive  of  the  most  fatal 
consequences,  both  to  the  king  and  the  people.  The  prin- 
cipal men  of  the  court,  who  were  at  heart  idolaters,  taking 
advantage  of  the  weakness  of  Jehoash,  first  artfully  obtain- 
ed permission  for  themselves  to  worship  their  favorite  idols, 
and  then  gradually  led  the  king  into  the  same  apostasy. 
Their  example  was  soon  followed  by  the  mass  of  the  peo- 
ple ;  and  the  consequence  was,  that  the  Temple  worship 
was  forsaken,  and  the  established  religion  gradually  fell 
into  contempt.  These  acts  of  impiety  were  so  highly 
offensive  to  God,  that  he  sent  his  prophets  to  expostulate 
with  both  the  king  and  the  people,  on  their  wicked  apos- 
tasy, and  to  threaten  them  with  severe  punishment,  unless 
they  immediately  reformed,  and  returned  to  the  true  wor- 


KINGS     OF     JUDAH.  313 

ship  of  Jehovah.  But  the  judgments  denounced  against 
them,  notwithstanding  the  frequent  punishments  inflicted 
on  their  predecessors,  had  no  effect  towards  producing  a 
reformation.  At  length  Zachariah,  the  high-priest,  son 
and  successor  of  Jehoiada,  appeared  in  the  presence  of  the 
king,  and  so  vehemently  inveighed  against  his  abominable 
idolatry  that  Jehoash,  forgetting  all  past  obligations  to 
his  family,  ordered  him  to  be  immediately  stoned  to 
death. 

The  death  of  the  pious  priest  and  prophet  Zachariah, 
and  the  other  enormous  sins  of  which  Jehoash  had  recently 
become  guilty,  soon  drew  forth  that  signal  vengeance  of 
Heaven  which  they  so  richly  merited.  In  the  course  of 
the  following  year  Hazael,  king  of  Syria,  entered  the  land 
of  Judah  at  the  head  of  a  large  army ;  and,  having  taken 
Gath,  proceeded  towards  Jerusalem,  putting  to  death,  as 
he  advanced,  the  most  distinguished  of  those  princes  who 
had  been  the  means  of  seducing  their  king  to  idolatry. 
As  Jehoash  was  in  no  condition  to  resist  this  powerful  foe, 
he  took  all  the  rich  vessels  which  his  ancestors  had  devoted 
to  the  service  of  God,  the  gold  and  silver  found  in  the  trea- 
sury of  the  Temple,  and  in  the  royal  treasury,  and  offered 
them  to  Hazael,  on  condition  that  he  would  withdraw  his 
troops.  This  ofter  was  accepted  by  Hazael,  and  he  re- 
turned with  his  forces  to  Damascus ;  but,  in  the  following 
year  the  Syrians,  without  Hazael,  again  invaded  Judah, 
defeated  the  army  of  Jehoash,  made  great  havoc  in  the 
country,  entered  Jerusalem,  and,  after  murdering  many  of 
the  princes  and  chief  rulers  of  the  city,  treated  Jehoash 
himself  with  the  utmost  indignity. 

The  punishment  of  the  wicked  Jehoash  did  not,  how- 
ever, stop  here ;  for,  no  sooner  had  the  Syrian  army 
departed  from  the  country  than  he  was  seized  with  a 
complication  of  distempers,  which  confined  him  to  his 
14 


814  THE     ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

private  apartments,  where  he  was  soon  after  murdered  by 
Zabad  and  Jehozabad,  two  of  his  own  servants,  in  revenge 
for  the  death  of  Zachariah.  Thus  ended  the  career  of  this 
weak  and  treacherous  prince,  in  the  forty-eighth  year  of 
his  age,  and  the  forty-first  of  his  reign,  838  A.  C,  He 
was  buried  in  the  city  of  Jerusalem  ;  but  his  impious  prac- 
tices, during  the  latter  part  of  his  reign,  had  rendered  him 
so  obnoxious  to  the  people,  that  his  body  was  denied  a 
place  in  the  royal  sepulchre. 

Amaziah,  the  son  of  Jehoash,  succeeded  to  the  throne 
in  the  twenty-fifth  year  of  his  age.  He  commenced  his 
reign  by  re-establishing  the  worship  of  Jehovah,  and  all 
seemed  well ;  but  he  suflfered  the  high  places  to  remain, 
and  permitted  the  people  there  to  offer  sacrifices  and  burn 
incense.  As  soon  as  he  was  established  on  the  throne, 
he  caused  the  two  traitors  who  had  murdered  his  father 
*o  be  put  to  death ;  but  he  showed  his  respect  for  the  law 
of  Moses,  by  sparing  their  children,  contrary  to  the  usual 
custom  of  that  age. 

In  the  twelfth  year  of  his  reign,  Amaziah  resolved  to 
reduce  to  obedience  the  Edomites,  who  had  revolted  from 
Judah  during  the  reign  of  Jeroboam.  For  this  purpose 
he  raised  an  army  from  among  his  own  subjects  of  three 
hundred  thousand  men ;  but  not  deeming  this  force  suffi- 
cient, he  obtained  from  the  king  of  Israel  one  hundred 
thousand  auxiliaries,  for  whose  services  he  paid  a  hundred 
talents  of  silver.  As  the  combined  army  was  ready  to 
march  against  the  Edomites,  a  prophet  of  the  Lord  ap- 
peared before  the  king,  and,  under  Divine  direction,  ordered 
him  to  dismiss  the  hired  troops  from  his  service.  Amaziah 
did  as  the  prophet  directed,  and  thus  evinced  a  high  sense 
of  his  own  position  as  the  viceroy  of  the  Divine  King, 
though  the  act  involved  the  loss  of  the  money  he  had  ad* 
vanced. 


KINGS     OF     JUDAH.  315 

The  troops  of  the  king  of  Israel  were  deeply  incensed 
at  their  dismissal  from  the  army  of  Amaziah ;  and  there 
fore,  in  their  return  home,  they  plundered  many  of  the 
cities  of  Judah,  put  to  death  no  less  than  three  thousand 
men,  and  carried  away  much  booty,  to  compensate  them  for 
their  anticipated  share  of  the  spoils  of  the  Edomites.  Ama- 
ziah was,  however,  abundantly  rewarded  for  his  obedience 
to  the  Divine  command ;  for  in  the  battle  that  followed,  he 
gained  a  complete  victory  over  the  Edomites,  leaving  ten 
thousand  of  them  dead  upon  the  field,  and  taking  ten 
thousand  prisoners.  He  then  marched  his  army  to  Selah, 
the  metropolis  of  Arabia  Petraea,  captured  the  place,  and, 
from  the  rock  upon  which  it  stood,  cruelly  precipitated  his 
ten  thousand  prisoners  to  the  depth  below. 

But  the  savage  cruelty  of  Amaziah  to  the  captive 
Edomites  was  not  the  worst  evil  connected  with  this  expe- 
dition ;  for,  having  brought  away  with  him  the  idols  of 
Edom,  he,  with  wonderful  infatuation,  set  them  up  as 
objects  of  religious  homage  at  Jerusalem,  and  the  service 
of  the  Temple  of  Jehovah  was  once  more  shamefully  for- 
saken. His  conduct  so  highly  offended  the  Almighty, 
that  he  sent  a  prophet  to  reprove  him  for  his  apostasy ; 
but  instead  of  paying  any  regard  to  his  message,  he  threat- 
ened, if  he  did  not  desist,  to  put  him  to  death. 

Elated  with  his  victory  over  the  Edomites,  Amaziah 
now  formed  the  wild  project  of  bringing  the  ten  tribes  of 
Israel  under  obedience  to  the  house  of  David.  With  this 
view  he  provoked  Joash,  their  king,  to  hostilities,  though 
the  latter  used  every  effort  to  avoid  them.  The  two 
armies  met  at  a  place  called  Bethshemesh,  within  the 
borders  of  Judah ;  and  no  sooner  were  they  drawn  up  in 
battle  array,  than  the  troops  of  Amaziah  became  terrified 
and  fled,  leaving  their  king  to  the  mercy  of  his  antagonist. 
Joash  immediately  marched  his  army,  accompanied  by  his 


yi6  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

royal  prisoner,  to  Jerusalem,  demolished  the  fortifications 
of  the  city,  plundered  the  Temple  and  the  palace  of  their 
riches,  and  then  returned  to  Samaria,  leaving  Amaziah  in 
possession  of  his  dishonored  crown. 

After  this  disagracefiil  defeat  by  the  king  of  Israel, 
Amaziah  lived  about  fifteen  years  ;  but  we  have  no  farther 
information  of  him,  than  that  he  still  persisted  in  his  idola- 
try, and  continued  till  his  death  to  remain  under  the  Divine 
displeasure.  Tow^ards  the  close  of  his  life,  he  carried  his 
idolatrous  practices  to  such  lengths,  that  he  fell  under  the 
contempt  of  his  own  subjects  ;  and  a  conspiracy  was,  con 
sequently,  formed  against  his  life.  Amaziah,  having 
received  intimation  of  this  conspiracy,  fled  to  Lachish,  one 
of  the  frontier  towns  of  the  Philistines ;  but  he  was  pur- 
sued thither  and  privately  murdered;  after  which  his 
body  was  secretly  brought  back  to  Jerusalem,  and 
buried  without  ceremony  in  the  sepulchre  of  his  an 
cestors. 

Thus  perished  Amaziah,  king  of  Judah,  in  the  fifty-fifth 
year  of  his  age,  and  thirtieth  of  his  reign,  809  A.  C. 


SECTION   III. 


UzziAH  : — Triumphs  over  the  Philistines  and  Arabians — Improves 
Jerusalem — Usurps  the  Priestly  Functions,  and  is  smitten  with  Lep- 
rosy— JoTHAM — A  Virtuous  and  Successful  Prince — Ahaz — For  his 
Idolatry,  God  permitted  Rezin,  King  of  Syria,  and  Pekah,  King:  tjf 
Israel,  successfully  to  invade  Judah  —  IIezekiah — His  Excellent 
Character — Revives  the  Passover — Judah  invaded  by  Sennacherib — 
God  interposes  for  Hezekiah — His  Sickness  and  Miraculous  Cure. 

UzziAH,  sometimes  called  Azariah,  was  raised  to  the 
throne  of  Judah  when  only  sixteen  years  of  age  ;  and, 
notwithstanding  his  extreme  youth,  his  conduct  from  the 
very  commencement  of  his  reign  was  marked  by  the  great- 


KINGS     OF     JUDAH.  31*7 

est  discretion.  He  was  active,  valiant,  courteous,  just; 
and  pious ;  and  the  Almighty,  accordingly,  blessed  him  in 
all  his  ways. 

As  soon  asrhe  had  regularly  organized  his  government, 
Uzziah  marched  against  the  Philistines ;  and,  having  de- 
feated them  in  several  battles,  he  dismantled  many  of  their 
principal  towns,  and  built  cities  in  different  parts  of  the 
surrounding  country,  to  keep  them  in  subjection.  He  next 
went  against  the  Arabians,  who  dwelt  upon  the  borders  of 
Egypt,  and  the  Mehunims,  a  tribe  that  lived  in  the  desert 
part  of  the  country,  and  speedily  overcame  them  both. 
The  Ammonites,  and  other  surrounding  nations,  were  so 
terrified  at  these  successes  of  the  king  of  Judah,  that  they 
willingly  became  his  tributaries. 

Having  thus  triumphed  over  his  enemies  abroad,  Uzziah 
next  turned  his  attention  towards  Jerusalem  and  the  sur- 
rounding country.  He  restored  and  fortified  the  walls  of 
the  city,  and  placed  upon  them  engines  of  defense,  for  dis- 
charging arrows  and  large  stones.  He  constructed  aque- 
ducts, cisterns,  and  basins,  for  the  convenience  of  his 
cattle  ;  and  employed  many  planters  in  the  plains  and  vine- 
dressers on  the  mountains,  to  bring  to  perfection  the  fruits 
of  the  earth.  But  the  chief  glory  of  Uzziah's  kingdom  lay 
in  his  military  force.  His  army  consisted  of  three  hundred 
and  seven  thousand  five  hundred  select  troops,  under  the 
command  of  two  thousand  six  hundred  brave  and  expe- 
rienced officers,  who  had  been  trained  up  in  the  most  per- 
fect knowledge  of  the  military  art.  The  men  were  all 
furnished  with  swords,  bucklers,  spears,  helmets,  bows, 
slings,  and  other  warlike  weapons,  and  were  divided  into 
bands,  and  ordered  to  hold  themselves  in  readiness  to  be 
called  out  in  rotation  as  occasion  might  require  them. 

Uzziah' s  prosperity  was  uninterrupted  during  the  life 
of  his  counsellor  Zechariah ;  but  soon  after  that  faithful 


318  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

friend's  death,  which  occurred  in  the  twenty-fourth  year 
of  the  king's  reign,  he  began  to  neglect  the  worship  of 
God,  and  become  remiss  in  his  attention  to  other  duties. 
At  length,  incited  perhaps  by  the  example^of  the  neigh- 
boring kings,  who  united  both  the  regal  and  pontifical 
functions,  he,  having  first  clothed  himself  in  the  dress  of 
a  priest,  went  to  the  Temple  to  oflfer  incense  on  the  golden 
altar.  As  soon  as  Azariah,  the  high-priest,  was  informed 
of  the  design  of  the  king,  he,  accompanied  by  eighty  otber 
priests,  repaired  to  the  Temple  and  earnestly  remonstrated 
against  such  an  assumption  of  the  sacerdotal  rights.  But 
his  remonstrance  had  no  other  eftect  than  to  throw  Uzziah 
into  the  utmost  rage,  and  to  lead  him  to  treat  the  high- 
priest  with  the  greatest  indignity.  God,  however,  himself 
vindicated  the  sacredness  of  the  sacerdotal  office  ;  for  no 
sooner  had  the  king  taken  the  censer  in  his  hand  to  burn 
incense,  than  he  was  smitten  with  leprosy,  upon  which, 
fearful  lest  the  Divine  vengeance  should  punish  him  with 
instant  death,  he  at  once  left  the  Temple,  and  hastened  to 
his  palace. 

The  disease  with  which  Uzziah  was  aflflicted  being 
incurable,  the  functions  of  go\'ernment  were  assumed  by 
Jotham,  as  his  father's  viceroy,  and  the  king  was  obliged 
to  quit  the  palace,  and  occupy  a  private  dwelling,  de- 
tached from  the  city.  In  this  loathsome  condition  he 
remained  for  nineteen  years ;  and  at  his  death,  which  oc- 
curred in  the  sixty-eighth  year  of  his  age,  and  fifty-second 
of  his  reign,  757  A.  C,  he  was  buried  in  a  field  adjacent 
to  the  royal  sepulchre. 

-Jotham,  the  son  and  successor  of  Uzziah,  ascended  the 
throne  in  the  twenty-sixth  year  of  his  age,  though,  from 
his  father's  infirmities,  he  had  already  administered  the 
government  for  several  years.  He  was  remarkable  for 
every  virtue   and  excellence,  and  in  matters   of  rehgion 


KINGS     OF     JUDAH.  319 

vTouid  nave  made  a  thorough  reformation;  but  the  people 
were  so  intensely  wicked,  that  they  frustrated  his  designs. 
He,  however,  repaired  the  Temple,  rebuilt  the  high  gate 
which  led  from  his  palace,  and,  for  the  security  and  defense 
of  his  kingdom,  built  various  cities,  castles,  and  towns,  in 
different  parts  of  his  dominions. 

These  vigilant  measures  secured,  for  a  number  of  years, 
the  peace  and  tranquillity  of  the  nation;  but  at  length, 
the  Ammonites  invaded  the  country,  and  committed  exten- 
sive depredations.  Against  this  insolent  foe  Jotham 
marched  with  a  large  army,  and  not  only  drove  them  out 
of  his  kingdom,  but  imposed  upon  their  king  an  annual 
tribute  of  a  hundred  talents  of  silver,  ten  thousand  mea- 
sures of  wheat,  and  ten  thousand  measures  of  barley. 
This  tribute  the  Ammonites  continued  to  pay  for  three 
years ;  but  when,  at  the  expiration  of  that  time,  Kezin, 
king  of  Syria,  and  Pekah,  king  of  Israel,  confederated 
against  Judah,  they  revolted  and  regained  their  independ- 
ence. Jotham  soon  after  died,  in  the  forty-first  year  of 
his  age,  and  sixteenth  of  his  reign,  741  A.  C.  He  waa 
buried  amidst  the  universal  lamentations  of  his  subjects, 
in  the  sepulchre  of  his  ancestors. 

AiiAz  succeeded  his  father  on  the  throne  when  he  was 
in  the  twentieth  year  of  his  age.  He  proved  a  wicked  and 
worthless  prince ;  and  instead  of  following  the  pious  max- 
ims of  his  father,  he  gave  himself  up  entirely  to  idolatry, 
and  even  constrained  his  subjects  to  follow  his  wicked  ex- 
ample. He  did  not,  however,  at  this  time  carry  his  idola- 
trous practices  as  far  as  he  intended,  in  consequence  of 
the  threatened  invasion  of  his  kingdom  by  Eezin,  king  of 
Syria,  and  Pekah,  king  of  Israel,  for  which  they  had  made 
preparation  towards  the  close  of  his  father's  reign. 

The  design  of  the  confederates  was,  first  to  take  the  city 
of  Jerusalem,  and  then  to  extirpate  the  house  of  David, 


820  THE     ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

and  bestow  the  crown  on  one  whom  we  know  only  as 
"  Tabeal's  son."  This  arrangement,  however,  proved 
abortive;  for  it  was  the  will  of  God  to  punish  Ahaz 
alone  for  his  wickedness,  and  not  to  cut  off  the  whole 
race  of  his  servant  David.  He,  therefore,  sent  the  pro- 
phet Isaiah  to  Ahaz  to  encourage  him  to  make  the  most 
vigorous  defense  possible  against  the  enemy,  and  to  assure 
him  that  they  should  not  succeed  in  their  purpose.  The 
confederate  kings  at  length  marched  a  very  large  army 
into  the  kingdom  of  Judah ;  and  after  committing  various 
depredations  in  different  parts  of  the  country,  they  laid 
siege  to  Jerusalem.  Ahaz,  in  accordance  with  the  direc- 
tion of  the  prophet,  made  every  possible  effort  to  defend 
the  city ;  and  such  Avas  its  strength,  and  the  resolution  of 
the  people,  that  the  enemy,  finding  themselves  baffled  in 
every  attack,  at  length  raised  the  siege,  and  returned 
home. 

This  manifest  interposition  of  the  Almighty  in  favor  of 
Ahaz,  had  no  other  effect  upon  him  than  to  render  him 
more  wicked  and  obdurate  in  his  sins.  He  not  only  pro- 
moted the  worship  of  the  golden  calves  of  Israel,  but 
made  molten  images,  also,  of  the  idols  of  the  surrounding 
nations,  and  to  them  offered  sacrifices  and  burnt  incense 
on  the  high  places,  on  the  hills,  and  under  every  green  tree. 
These  enormities  were  so  offensive  to  God,  that  he  resolved 
to  punish  Ahaz  by  the  same  allied  powers  whose  efforts  he 
had  before  frustrated. 

Eezin  and  Pekah,  accordingly,  again  brought  together 
their  forces  ;  and  to  increase  their  strength,  they  called  in 
the  aid  of  Zichri,  "  a  mighty  man  of  Ephraim."  These 
different  leaders  approached  the  dominions  of  Ahaz  from 
three  different  quarters,  and  were  all  equally  successful. 
Rezin  took  Elath,  a  port  on  the  Red  Sea,  dispossessed  the 
inhabitants,  and  put  the  place  in  the  hands  of  the  Eiom- 


KINGS     OF     JUDAH.  321 

ites,  and  then  returned,  with  great  spoil,  in  triuruph  to 
Damascus.  Pekah  marched  against  Ahaz,  and  in  the  bat- 
tle that  followed  so  terrible  was  the  defeat  of  the  forces  of 
the  latter,  that  no  less  tlian  one  hundred  and  twenty  thou- 
sand of  them  were  left  dead  upon  the  field.  And  Zichri, 
taking  advantage  of  this  victory,  marched  to  Jerusalem,  and 
having  made  himself  master  of  the  city,  slew  Maaseiah,  the 
king's  son,  together  with  many  of  the  principal  members 
of  the  court. 

After  these  two  victories,  the  Israelitish  armies,  led  by 
Pekah  and  Zichri,  returned  to  Samaria,  taking  with  them 
immense  spoil,  and  more  than  two  hundred  thousand  pris- 
oners, whona  they  intended  to  sell  into  slavery.  But  as 
they  approached  the  city,  they  were  met  by  the  prophet 
Oded,  who  remonstrated  with  them  so  earnestly  and  effec- 
tively on  the  great  crime  of  making  slaves  of  their  breth- 
ren, that  the  two  kings  not  only  released  their  captives, 
but  conducted  them  back  into  their  own  country  as  far  as 
Jericho,  and  then  left  them  to  return  at  their  leisure  to 
their  own  homes. 

The  oppression  of  the  kings  of  Syria  and  Israel  had 
scarcely  ceased,  before  the  kingdom  of  Judah  was  invaded 
by  other  enemies  no  less  inveterate  against  them.  The 
Edomites  from  the  south,  and  the  Philistines  from  the 
west,  invaded  the  country,  seized  all  the  contiguous  cities, 
and  committed  other  violent  depredations.  As  Ahaz  was 
not  in  a  situation  to  repel  these  invaders  himself,  he  sent 
ambassadors  to  Tiglath-Pileser,  king  of  Assyria,  with  a 
present  of  all  the  gold  and  silver  contained  in  the  Temple, 
and  an  assurance  that  if  he  would  send  an  army  to  his 
assistance,  he  would  thenceforth  consider  himself  his  vas- 
sal. Pleased  with  this  pretext  for  interfering  in  the  affairs 
of  the  west,  Tiglath-Pileser  readily  accepted  the  proposed 
conditions  of  Ahaz ;  and,  accordingly,  he  marched  a  large 
14* 


322  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

army  into  Syria,  defeated  and  slew  Kezin  the  king,  in 
battle,  and  took  possession  of  his  dominions.  He  next 
advanced  against  the  Hebrew  possessions  east  of  the  Jor- 
dan, overran  the  country,  and  sent  the  three  tribes — 
Keuben,  Gad,  and  Manasseh  —  away  captive  into  As- 
syria. 

Wliile  Tiglath-Pileser  was  passing  the  following  winter 
at  Damascus,  Ahaz  paid  him  a  visit  to  congratulate  him 
on  his  success,  and  to  pay  him  homage.  He  soon  found, 
however,  that,  though  temporarily  relieved  from  an  immi- 
nent danger,  he  had  little  cause  to  rejoice  in  the  result. 
He  had  become  tributary  to  a  foreign  power,  and  instead 
of  a  rival,  had  now  a  powerful  and  overbearing  master 
for  a  neighbor. 

On  his  return  to  Jerusalem,  Ahaz  carried  ^Yith  him  a 
model  of  a  curious  idolatrous  altar  which  he  had  found  in 
Damascus ;  and,  so  soon  as  he  could  have  one  made  after 
this  pattern,  he  caused  the  altar  of  the  Lord  to  be  re- 
moved from  the  Temple,  and  this  foreign  altar  put  in  its 
place.  Thenceforth  he  adopted  the  Syrian  worship,  and 
his  idolatries  knew  no  bounds.  He  caused  altars  to  be 
erected,  not  only  in  every  part  of  Jerusalem,  but  in  all 
the  principal  cities  also  of  Judah,  and  on  these,  sacrifices 
without  limit  to  be  offered  to  the  various  idols  of  Syria. 
In  the  midst  of  these  horrid  impieties,  his  wicked  career 
closed,  at  the  early  age  of  thirty-six,  and  in  the  sixteenth 
year  of  his  reign,  725  A.  C.  Ahaz  was  buried  in  the  city 
of  David,  but  not  in  the  royal  sepulchre,  his  \ncious  life 
depriving  him  of  that  honor.  He  was,  perhaps,  the  most 
incorrigible  instance  of  persevering  impiety  that  the  his- 
tory of  the  Hebrew  kings  presents.  In  this  reign  Micah 
delivered  the  prophecy  which  his  book  contains. 

Hezekiah,  the  son  and  successor  of  Ahaz,  was,  perhaps, 
the  most  virtuous  and  pious  monarch  of  all  the  line  of 


KINGS     OF     JUDAH.  323 

David.  He  ascended  the  throne  in  the  twenty-fifth  year 
of  his  age,  and  immediately  evinced  all  those  attributes 
which  characterize  a  good  king.  He  ordered  the  gates 
of  the  Temple  to  be  again  opened,  the  idolatrous  altar  of 
his  father  to  be  removed,  and  the  altar  of  the  Lord  to  be 
restored  to  its  place.  Then,  assembling  the  priests  and 
Levites,  he  addressed  them  in  the  most  solemn  and  im- 
pressive manner,  reminding  them  of  the  recent  departure 
of  the  whole  nation  from  God,  and  exhorting  them  to 
sanctify  themselves,  and  unite  with  him  "in  a  covenant 
with  the  Lord  God  of  their  fathers,  that  his  fierce  wrath 
may  turn  away  from  us." 

Into  this  solemn  covenant,  the  priests  and  Levites 
readily  entered ;  and  as  soon  as  suitable  preparations 
were  made,  the  king,  attended  by  all  the  chief  men  of  the 
court,  repaired  to  the  Temple,  and  there  ofibred  sacrifices 
and  burnt-ofterings  in  such  profusion  that  the  oflSciating 
priests  were  compelled  to  call  in  the  aid  of  the  Levites. 
As  soon  as  the  sacrifices  were  ended,  the  king  and  all  the 
congregation  bowed  in  reverential  worship  before  the 
Lord,  and  the  Levites,  with  their  instruments,  "  sang 
praises  unto  the  Lord,  in  the  words  of  David,  and  of 
Asaph,  the  seer." 

The  service  of  the  Temple  being  thus  restored,  Heze- 
kiah  next  proposed  to  revive  the  Passover,  the  observance 
of  which  had  been  greatly  neglected,  ever  since  the  division 
of  the  kingdom.  All  the  princes  and  chief  men  of  the 
court  approving  this  design,  the  king  immediately  directed 
that  the  necessary  prejmrations  should  be  made  without 
delay,  for  carrying  it  into  effect.  A  proclamation  was 
accordingly  issued,  requiring  not  only  the  people  of  Judah, 
but  also  those  of  Israel,  to  repair  to  Jerusalem  to  attend 
the  solemnity.  But  as  neither  the  Temple,  the  priests,  nor 
the  people,  could  be  suflSciently  sanctified  for  the  important 


324  THE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

occasion  by  the  first  month  of  the  year — the  usual  time 
for  its  observance — the  celebration  was  postponed  till  the 
second. 

The  men  of  Judah  unanimously  obeyed  the  summons 
of  their  king ;  and  to  it  many  of  the  pious  amongst  the 
Israelites  also  gave  heed.  The  celebration  commenced  on 
the  fourteenth  day  of  the  second  month;  but  Hezekiah, 
fearful  that  amongst  so  great  a  multitude  there  might  be 
some  who  had  not  sufficiently  sanctified  themselves  for  the 
sacred  occasion,  offered  for  them  the  following  atoning 
prayer :  "  The  Good  Lord  pardon  every  one  that  pre- 
pareth  his  heart  to  seek  God,  even  the  Lord  God  of  his 
fathers;  although  he  be  not  cleansed,  according  to  the 
purification  of  the  sanctuary."  The  great  concourse  of 
people  assembled  upon  this  occasion,  rendered  this  pass- 
over  the  most  imposing  of  any  that  had  been  solemnized 
since  the  days  of  king  Solomon. 

The  passover  being  ended,  Hezekiah  now  resolved  that 
no  vestige  of  idolatry  should  remain  throughout  the  land. 
He,  therefore,  commanded  the  people  to  go  immediately, 
and  break  all  the  images,  burn  the  groves,  and  demolish 
the  high  places  and  altars,  not  only  throughout  Judah, 
but  also  in  those  parts  of  the  country  Avhich  belonged  to 
the  tribes  of  Ephraim  and  Manasseh.  He  even  caused  the 
Brazen  Serpent,  which  Moses  had  erected  as  a  monument 
of  God's  peculiar  mercy  to  the  Hebrews  in  the  wilderness, 
to  be  destroyed,  because  the  people  had  often  turned  it 
into  an  object  of  idolatrous  worship. 

Having  thus  restored  the  worship  of  Jehovah  through- 
out his  dominions,  Hezekiah  next  directed  his  attention  to 
the  recovery  of  those  places  which  had  been  taken  by  the 
Philistines  during  the  reign  of  his  father.  He,  therefore, 
marched  an  army  against  them,  and,  in  a  short  time,  not 
only  regained  all  the  cities  of  Judah  which  they  had  seized, 


KINGS     OF     JUDAH.  325 

but  also  dispossessed  them  of  all  their  own  territories,  ex- 
cepting Gath  and  Gaza.  Elated  with  this  success,  he  now 
ventured  to  withhold  the  yearly  tribute  which  his  father 
had  agreed  to  pay  to  the  Assyrians.  Shalmaneser,  the 
son  and  successor  of  Tiglath-Pileser,  was  at  this  time  en- 
gaged in  the  siege  of  Samaria,  and  was  therefore  too  much 
occupied  to  attend  to  the  affairs  of  the  king  of  Judah ;  but 
in  the  sixth  year  of  his  reign,  having  subdued  the  Israel- 
ites, and  carried  the  remaining  seven  tribes  away  into  cap- 
tivity, he  w^as  at  leisure  to  call  Hezekiah  to  account  for 
his  arrears  of  tribute.  Death,  however,  at  this  critical 
period,  put  an  end  to  the  Assyrian  monarch's  career,  and 
his  throne  was  filled  by  his  son   Sennacherib. 

Sennacherib,  immediately  after  his  accession,  invaded 
Judah  with  an  immense  host ;  and  as  Hezekiah  was  too 
weak  to  attempt  to  resist  so  powerful  a  foe,  he  sent  mes- 
sengers to  Sennacherib,  offering  to  submit  to  any  tribute 
which  he  might  think  proper  to  impose.  Three  hundred 
talents  of  silver,  and  thirty  talents  of  gold,  was  the  sum 
stipulated ;  and  to  pay  this  large  amount,  not  only  emp- 
tied the  sacred  and  the  royal  treasury,  but  required  also 
the  gold  which  covered  the  doors  and  pillars  of  the  Tem- 
ple. Sennacherib  now  advanced  towards  Egypt  to  invade 
that  kingdom;  but  reflecting,  soon  after  the  commence- 
ment of  his  march,  that  it  would  be  unsafe  to  leave  unsub- 
dued, behind  him,  a  power  so  well  inclined  to  ally  itself 
with  the  Egyptians,  he  basely  directed  his  course  to  the 
southern  part  of  Judah,  and  having  taken  many  other 
towns,  finally  resolved  to  lay  siege  to  Libnah,  and  La 
chish.  Thence  he  sent  his  general  Kabshakeh,  against 
Jerusalem ;  and  the  language  which  he  used  in  summon- 
ing Hezekiah  to  surrender  the  city  was,  in  the  highest 
degree,  offensive  and  blasphemous.  With  humble  confi- 
dence    Hezekiah    hastened    to    the    Temple,    and    there 


826  THE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

prostrating  himself  before  the  Lord,  referred  the  whole 
matter  to  his  righteous  arbitration.  God,  in  answer  to  the 
king's  prayer,  immediately  sent  the  prophet  Isaiah  to  him 
with  the  following  consoling  message :  "  Thus  saith  the 
Lord :  Be  not  afraid  of  the  words  which  thou  hast  heard, 
with  which  the  servants  of  the  king  of  Assyria  have  blas- 
phemed me.  Behold,  I  will  send  a  blast  upon  him,  and 
he  shall  hear  a  rumor,  and  shall  return  to  his  own  land ; 
and  I  will  cause  him  to  fall  by  the  sword,  in  his  own 
land." 

In  consequence  of  this  Divine  assurance  of  deliverance;, 
Hezekiah  sent  no  answer  to  the  summons  of  Eabshakeh , 
and  that  general,  therefore,  returned  with  his  forces  to 
Sennacherib,  who  was  pressing  the  siege  of  Libnah.  The 
failure  of  Kabshakeh's  expedition  against  Jerusalem,  so 
highly  enraged  the  haughty  Assyrian  monarch,  that  he 
resolved  at  once  to  lead  his  whole  army  against  that  city ; 
but  while  he  was  raising  the  siege  of  Libnah  for  that  pur- 
pose, he  received  intelligence  that  Tirhakah,  king  of 
Upper  Egypt,  was  advancing  with  an  immense  army,  to 
cut  off  his  retreat  to  his  own  country.  To  counteract  the 
designs  of  this  new  enemy  Sennacherib,  therefore,  thought 
it  prudent  to  abandon,  for  the  time,  his  operations  against 
Judah;  but  before  he  left  that  country,  he  sent  a  boastful 
and  threatening  letter  to  Hezekiah,  respecting  his  future  in- 
tentions. With  this  letter  Hezekiah  immediately  repaired 
to  the  Temple,  and,  spreading  it  out  before  the  Lord,  he 
earnestly  cried :  "  0  Lord  our  God,  I  beseech  thee  save 
thou  us  out  of  his  hand,  that  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  earth 
may  know  that  thou  art  the  Lord  God,  even  thou  only." 
In  answer  to  this  humble  prayer,  the  Lord  immediately 
sent  the  prophet  Isaiah  to  the  king,  with  an  assurance  that 
the  king  of  Assyria  should  not  so  much  as  come  near 
Jerusalem  ;  "  for,   saith  the  Lord,  I  will  defend  this  city, 


KINGS     OF     JUDAH.  327 

to  save  it,  for  my  own  sake,  and  for  my  servant  David's 
sake." 

In  the  mean  time  Sennacherib  had  met  the  forces  of  the 
king  of  Eg}q3t,  and  had  routed  them  with  immense 
slaughter.  Fkished  with  this  fresh  triumph  he  returned 
towards  Jerusalem,  firmly  determined  to  destroy  the  city 
and  put  all  the  inhabitants  to  the  sword ;  but  in  his  way 
thither,  during  the  very  night  after  the  prophet  had  given 
Hezekiah  the  assurance  of  Divine  protection,  "  the  angel 
of  the  Lord  went  out,  and  smote,  in  the  camp  of  the 
Assyrians,  an  hundred  and  eighty-five  thousand."  This 
exhibition  of  Divine  vengeance  so  terrified  Sennacherib, 
that  he  immediately  hastened,  with  the  remainder  of  his 
army,  home  to  Nineveh,  and  was  there  soon  after  slain  by 
two  of  his  sons  while  he  was  worshipping  in  the  temple 
of  Nisroch,  the  principal  idol  of  the  Assyrians.  The 
parricides  fled  for  safety  into  Armenia,  and  left  Esar- 
haddon,  their  younger  brother,  to  succeed  to  the  throne. 

While  these  memorable  events  were  passing  in  and 
around  Judah,  Hezekiah  was  suddenly  prostrated  by  ill- 
ness, and  was  warned  by  the  prophet  Isaiah  to  prepare  for 
death.  Upon  receiving  this  startling  warning,  the  king  at 
once  turned  to  *'  Him  with  whom  belong  the  issues  from 
death,"  and  in  the  most  fervent  manner  offered  up  the  fol- 
lowing brief  supplication:  "I  beseech  thee,  0  Lord, 
remember  how  I  have  walked  before  thee  in  truth,  and 
with  a  perfect  heart,  and  have  done  that  which  is  good  in 
thy  sight."  This  prayer  proved  so  eflectual,  that  the 
prophet,  before  he  had  passed  the  middle  court  of  the 
Temple,  was  directed  to  return  and  inform  Hezekiah  that 
his  prayer  had  been  heard,  and  his  tears  witnessed ;  and 
that  the  Almighty  had  determined  to  add  fifteen  years  to 
his  life.  To  assure  him,  at  the  same  time,  that  his  re- 
covery  was,   indeed,  miraculous,  and   not    "by  chance,'' 


328  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

and  to  give  liim  confidence  in  the  promise,  God  directed 
that  the  shadow  iijDon  the  sun-dial  of  Ahaz  should  go 
backwards  ten  degrees. 

The  fame  of  this  cure,  and  of  the  miracle  that  attended 
it,  extended  even  to  Babylon ;  and  Merodach-baladan,  the 
governor,  sent  ambassadors  to  congratulate  Hezekiah  on 
his  recover}^,  to  inquire  into  the  attendant  miracle,  and  to 
form  an  alliance  of  friendship  with  him.  Flattered  by  such 
an  embassy  from  so  distant  a  quarter,  Hezekiah  did  not, 
on  this  occasion,  observe  his  usual  discretion ;  and,  there- 
fore, to  convince  the  ambassadors  of  his  importance,  and 
that  he  was  a  desirable  ally,  he  made  to  them  a  very  os- 
tentatious display  of  his  strength  and  treasures.  For 
indulging  in  this  vain  glory,  instead  of  referring  all  his 
power  and  greatness  to  the  Divine  protection  and  favor, 
the  Almighty  was  displeased  with  Hezekiah;  and  the 
prophet  Isaiah  was  therefore  commissioned  to  humble  him 
with  the  intimation  that  the  day  was  not  far  distant  when 
all  the  treasures  which  he  and  his  fathers  had  laid  up, 
should  be  spoil  for  the  Babylonians,  and  when  his  descend- 
ants should  be  servants  in  the  palace  of  their  king.  To 
this  severe  admonition  Hezekiah  meekly  replied  :  "  Good 
is  the  word  of  the  Lord,  which  thou  hast  spoken.  Is  it 
not  good,  if  peace  and  truth  be  in  my  days  ?" 

The  remainder  of  Hezekiah's  life  and  reign  was  passed 
In  peace  and  prosperity;  and  his  death  occurred  69G 
A.  C.,  when  he  was  in  the  fifty-fifth  year  of  his  age,  and 
thirtieth  of  his  reign.  He  was  buried  with  great  solemnity, 
in  the  most  honorable  place  among  the  sepulchres  of  she 
sons  of  David. 


INGS     OF     JUDAH.  329 


SECTION    IV. 

MANAf  SEH  : — His  Idolatry— His  Captivity— His  Repentance,  and  Re- 
storation to  his  Throne — Amon— Josiah — His  early  Piety,  and  Re- 
formations throughout  his  Kingdom— Book  of  the  Law  discovered, 
and  deposited  in  the  Ark — Josiah's  death  and  burial — Jehoahaz — 
Deposed  by  Necho,  and  sent  in  chains  to  Egypt— Jehoiakim— His 
Idolatry  reproved  by  Jeremiah — Jehoiakin — Jerusalem  taken  by 
Nebuchadnezzar — End  of  the  Kingdom  of  Judah. 

Manasseh,  tlie  son  and  successor  of  the  excellent  Hezfe- 
kiah,  ascended  the  throne  of  Judah  when  he  was  only- 
twelve  years  of  age.  Though  so  young,  still  he  must  have 
been  familiar  with  the  happy  measures  pursued  by  his 
father ;  but  it  was  his  misfortune  to  fall  into  the  hands  of 
such  guardians  and  chief  ministers  as  were  ill-affected  to 
Hezekiah's  reformation.  They  embraced  every  oppor- 
tunity, therefore,  to  instill  into  him  a  strong  aversion  to  it, 
and  to  corrupt  his  mind  with  the  most  pernicious  princi- 
ples, both  religious  and  political. 

The  efforts  of  the  guardians  and  counsellors  of  Manas- 
seh proved  entirely  successful.  In  the  course  of  a  few 
years,  all  that  had  been  done  by  Hezekiah  was  entirely- 
overthrown;  and  those  abominable  practices  which  had 
called  down  the  vengeance  of  Heaven  upon  the  Israelites, 
were,  in  every  particular,  followed  by  him.  He  not  only- 
worshipped  idols,  restored  high  places,  and  erected  altars 
unto  Baal,  but  even  profaned  the  Temple  itself,  by  taking 
out  the  Ark  of  the  Covenant,  and  putting  an  idol  in  its 
place.  These,  and  other  abominations,  such  as  compelling 
his  children  to  pass  through  the  fire  to  Moloch,  were 
accompanied  by  the  most  cruel  persecutions  of  all  who 
would  not  follow  his  wicked  apostacy.  In  the  midst  of 
these  scenes  of  violence,  Isaiah,  the  greatest  of  the 
prophets,  was,  by  his  order,  sawn  asunder. 

These  horrid  impieties  were  so  offensive  to  the  Almighty 
that  he  proclaimed  by  his  prophet,  "Because  Manasseh, 


330  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

king  of  JudaL,  hath  done  these  abominations,  and  hath 
done  wickedly  above  all  that  the  Ammonites  did,  which  were 
before  him,  and  hath  made  Judah  to  sin  also  with  his  idols : 
therefore,  thus  saith  the  Lord  God  of  Israel,  Behold,  I  will 
brino-  such  evil  upon  Jerusalem  and  Judah,  that  whosoever 
heareth  of  it,  both  his  ears  shall  tingle."  Notwithstand- 
ing this  awful  denunciation,  Manasseh  persisted  in  follow- 
ing his  iniquitous  ways  until  the  twenty-second  year  of  his 
reign,  when  Esar-haddon,  king  of  Assyria,  having  overcome 
Palestine,  removed  the  remnant  of  the  people  which  still  lin- 
gered upon  the  mountains  of  Israel,  and  then  ordered  his 
generals  to  march  against  Jerusalem.  Manasseh  left  the 
city  and  advanced  with  his  army  to  meet  the  enemy  ;  but 
being  overcome  in  battle,  he  was  taken  prisoner  and  sent 
in  chains  to  Babylon,  and  there  cast  into  a  dungeon. 

In  this  deplorable  situation,  Manasseh  soon  became 
sensible  of  his  heinous  offenses  against  God;  and  with 
deep  humihation  and  unfeigned  penitence,  he,  in  the  most 
fervent  manner,  implored  the  Divine  forgiveness.  The 
Almighty  was  pleased  to  listen  to  his  prayer,  to  forgive 
his  sins,  and  to  incline  the  heart  of  the  successor  of  Esar- 
haddon  to  release  him  from  bondage  and  restore  him  to  his 
kingdom. 

Conscious  that  his  restoration  was  attributable  exclu- 
sively to  the  Divine  favor,  Manasseh  now  made  the  most 
strenuous  efforts  to  atone  for  his  former  crimes.  He  re- 
paired and  fortified  the  city  of  Jerusalem,  consecrated  the 
Temple  anew,  and  made  it  the  chief  business  of  his  life  to 
manifest  his  gratitude  towards  his  Divine  protector.  He 
was  not  satisfied  with  his  own  personal  reformation ;  but, 
sensible  that  his  former  guilt  had  been  the  cause  of  the 
miseries  which  his  people  had  endured,  he  endeavored, 
both  by  his  example  and  his  authority,  to  effect  a  reforma/' 
lion  among  them  also. 


KINGS     OF     JUDAH.  331 

Thus  occupied,  Manasseh,  in  peace  and  prosperity,  passed 
the  remainder  of  a  reign  of  fifty-five  years — longer  than 
that  of  any  other  king  of  either  Judah  or  Israel ;  and  at  his 
death,  which  occurred  643  A.  C,  he  left  a  flourishing  king- 
dom to  his  son  Amon.  The  wickedness  of  the  early  part 
of  his  life  deprived  him,  however,  of  the  honor  of  being 
buried  in  the  royal  sepulchre ;  and  his  remains  were,  there- 
fore, deposited  in  a  grave  made  in  the  garden  of  Uzzah, 
adjacent  to  his  dwelling. 

Amon,  the  son  of  Manasseh,  succeeded  to  the  throne  in 
the  twenty-third  year  of  his  age.  Although  his  entire  life 
had  been  passed  during  the  penitent  and  prosperous  part  of 
his  father's  reign,  yet  in  his  conduct  he  imitated  the  worst 
and  most  disastrous.  His  impieties  soon  provoked  the 
Almighty  to  shorten  his  days ;  and  he,  therefore,  permit- 
ted two  of  his  own  domestics  to  murder  him,  after  a  brief 
reign  of  two  years,  641  A.  C.  His  murderers  were,  how- 
ever, punished  with  death,  and  he  himself  was  buried  by 
the  side  of  his  father,  in  the  garden  of  Uzzah. 

JosiAH,  the  son  of  Amon,  ascended  the  throne  of 
Judah  when  only  eight  years  of  age.  He  possessed, 
naturally,  an  amiable  and  virtuous  disposition;  and  as  he 
advanced  in  years,  his  wise  and  judicious  conduct  excited 
the  universal  love  and  respect  of  his  subjects.  He  was, 
at  this  time,  under  the  guardianship  of  the  high-priest, 
who  bestowed  upon  him  an  education  worthy  of  his  ex- 
alted station. 

JosiAH  had  scarcely  reached  the  twelfth  year  of  his  age 
before  he  gave  proof  of  his  pietv  by  commencing  the  puri- 
fication of  Jerusalem.  He  extirpated  the  impious  worship 
of  idols,  and  restored  the  worship  of  the  true  God:  he 
abolished  such  ordinances  of  bis  predecessors  as  were  inju- 
rious in  their  tendencies :  such  as  were  expedient,  he 
retained ;  and  he  made  such  improvements  in  those  which 


332  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

required  to  be  improved,  as  would  have  done  honor  to  the 
most  consummate  wisdom,  and  the  experience  of  advanced 
years. 

This  reformation  in  the  city  was  immediately  followed 
by  a  similar  reformation  throughout  his  dominions.  To 
effect  this  object  the  more  thoroughly,  he  traversed  the 
whole  land,  including  those  territories  even,  which  had 
belonged  to  Ephraim,  Manasseh,  Zebulun,  and  Naphtali ; 
and  wherever  he  went,  he  caused  all  the  groves  and  altars, 
and  the  carved  and  molten  images  which  his  apostate 
predecessors  had  dedicated  to  idolatrous  worship,  to  be 
destroyed.  Even  the  graves  of  idolatrous  priests  were, 
by  his  order,  opened,  and  their  bones  taken  out  and  burnt 
upon  the  altars ;  and  all  those  priests  of  the  Levitical  order 
who  had  been  known  to  sacrifice,  at  any  time,  in  the  high 
places,  though  it  were  to  the  true  God,  were  removed  from 
the  sacerdotal  office. 

Having  made  this  general  reformation  in  religion,  not 
only  in  his  own  dominions,  but  in  the  territories  also  which 
formerly  belonged  to  Israel,  Josiah,  in  the  eighteenth  year 
of  his  reign,  returned  to  Jerusalem,  repaired  the  Temple, 
and  put  it  in  complete  order.  In  the  course  of  these 
labors  the  original  Book  of  the  Law,  as  written  by  the 
hand  of  Moses,  and  deposited  beside  the  Ark,  was  dis- 
covered by  Hilkiah,  the  high-priest.  From  this  venerable 
copy  the  prophecies  of  Moses,  foretelling  the  desolation 
of  the  land  and  the  destitution  of  the  Temple,  were  read 
in  the  presence  of  the  king.  With  intense  concern  Josiah 
rent  his  clothes,  and  sent  to  the  prophetess  Huldah  to  in- 
quire how  these  things  were  to  be  understood.  The  pro- 
phetess confirmed  the  denunciation,  and  declared  that  the 
threatened  evils  were  near  at  hand ;  but,  said  she,  "  As  for 
the  king  of  Judah  who  sent  you  to  inquire  of  the  Lord, 
so  shall  ye  say  unto  him : — Thus  saith  the  Lord  God  of 


KINGS     OF     JUDAH.  333 

• 

Israel,  concerning  the  words  which  thou  hast  heard :  Be- 
cause thine  heart  was  tender,  and  thou  didst  humble  thy- 
self before  God  when  thou  heardst  these  words  against 
this  place,  and  against  the  inhabitants  thereof,  and  hum- 
bledst  thyself  before  me,  I  have  even  heard  thee  also,  saith 
the  Lord.  Behold,  I  will  gather  thee  to  thy  fathers,  and 
thou  shalt  be  gathered  to  thy  grave  in  peace ;  neither  shall 
thine  eyes  see  all  the  evil  that  I  will  bring  upon  this  place, 
and  upon  the  inhabitants  of  the  same." 

On  recei\ing  this  message  from  the  prophetess,  Josiah 
sent  orders  to  the  priests,  Levites,  and  people  throughout 
his  dominions,  to  hasten  to  Jerusalem  without  delay ;  and 
as  soon  as  they  were  all  assembled,  he  repaired  with  them 
to  the  Temple,  where,  in  the  hearing  of  the  whole  multi- 
tude, he  caused  the  law  of  God  to  be  distinctly  read,  and 
then  both  he  and  his  people  entered  into  a  solemn  cove- 
nant, strictly  to  obey  every  article  contained  in  that  sacred 
book.  Sacrifices  were  then  made,  and  prayers  offered  up 
for  the  Divine  blessing,  after  which  the  king  dismissed  the 
people  to  their  several  homes,  and  he  returned  to  his 
palace.  He  soon  after  made  a  second  tour  throughout  his 
dominions,  and  wherever  he  found  the  least  vestige  of 
idolatry,  he  caused  it  to  be  immediately  removed. 

The  reformation  of  religion  being  now  complete,  and 
the  worship  of  Jehovah  thoroughly  established,  Josiah 
next  prepared  to  celebrate  the  passover.  In  this  celebra- 
tion, an  exact  conformity  to  the  law  and  ancient  usage 
was  observed ;  and,  according  to  Divine  testimony,  it  was 
the  most  solemn  passover  that  had  been  known  since  the 
time  of  the  prophet  Samuel.  In  truth,  this  excellent 
prince  did  everything  in  his  power  to  atone  for  the  sins 
of  the  people,  and  to  appease  the  wrath  of  the  Almighty ; 
but  the  Divine  decree  for  the  removal  of  Judah  into  a 
land  of  captivity  had  irrevocably  passed. 


884  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

The  celebration  of  this  great  festival  had  scarcely  closed, 
before  Pharaoh  Necho,  king  of  Egypt,  requested  permis- 
sion of  Josiah  to  pass  through  Judah,  in  order  to  attack 
Carchemish,  an  important  pass  of  the  Euj^hrates.  But 
Josiah,  as  a  tributary  of  the  Assyrians,  felt  himself  bound 
to  oppose  his  passage ;  and  with  this  view  he  led  his  army 
to  the  Valley  Megiddo,  and  there  awaited  the  approach  of 
the  Egyptian  king.  Against  this  conduct  af  the  king  of 
Judah,  the  king  of  Egypt  earnestly  but  vainly  expostu- 
lated ;  and  a  desperate  battle,  therefore,  immediately  fol- 
lowed, during  which  Josiah  was  mortally  wounded  and 
conveyed  to  Jerusalem,  where  he  soon  after  died,  and  was 
buried  in  the  sepulchre  of  his  ancestors.  This  sad  event 
occurred  610  A.  C,  and  in  the  thirty-second  year  of  this 
excellent  and  lamented  prince's  reign. 

Jehoahaz  or  Shallum,  the  second  son  of  Josiah,  wan 
anointed  king  of  Judah  immediately  after  his  father's 
death  ;  but  his  reign  was  of  only  three  months'  duration. 
He  was  naturally  a  very  wicked  prince,  and  early  indicated 
his  intention  of  overthrowing  ail  the  wise  and  good  regula- 
tions of  his  virtuous  predecessor.  But  his  wicked  designs 
were  frustrated  by  Necho,  king  of  Egypt,  who,  when  he 
returned  triumphant  from  the  Euphrates,  came  to  Jerusa- 
lem, deposed  Jehoahaz,  and  sent  him  in  chains  to  Egypt, 
where  he  passed  the  remainder  of  his  days  in  misery  and 
disgrace.  Necho  then  laid  upon  Judah  an  annual  tribute 
of  one  hundred  talents  of  silver  and  one  of  gold,  and  be- 
stowed the  crown  upon  Josiah's  eldest  son  Eliakim,  whose 
name  he  changed  to  Jehoiakim,  in  token  of  submission. 

Jehoiakim  was  no  sooner  seated  upon  the  throne  than 
he  began,  in  imitation  of  his  brother,  to  overturn  the  order 
and  discipline  which  his  father  had  established ;  and  the 
people,  who  had  never  sincerely  entered  into  Josiah's  refor- 
mation, gladly  embraced  the  present  opportunity  to  indulge 


KINGS     OF     JUDAH.  335 

the  bent  of  their  depraved  inclinations.  God,  by  the 
prophet  Jeremiah,  severely  admonished  both  the  king  and 
the  people  for  their  iniquities ;  and  assured  them  that,  if 
they  persisted  in  their  wicked  ways,  "  he  would  make  the 
Temple  like  the  house  of  Shiloh,  and  the  city  of  Jerusalem 
a  curse  to  all  nations." 

The  freedom  with  which  Jeremiah  delivered  this  mes- 
sage gave  such  offense  to  the  priests,  that  they  caused 
him  to  be  apprehended,  brought  before  the  king's  council, 
and  tried  for  his  life ;  but  Ahikam,  one  of  the  chief  lords 
of  the  kingdom,  interceded  so  successfully  for  him,  that  he 
obtained  his  discharge  by  the  general  consent  of  all  the 
princes  and  the  elders  of  the  people  then  present.  Urijah, 
another  prophet  commissioned  to  convey  a  similar  mes- 
sage to  the  king  and  the  people,  was  not,  however,  so 
favorably  treated.  To  escape  from  Jehoiakim's  rage,  he 
fled  into  Egypt ;  but  the  tyrant's  emissaries  pursued  him 
thither,  and  brought  him  back  to  Jerusalem,  where  he  was 
cruelly  put  to  death,  and  his  remains  afterwards  treated 
with  the  greatest  indignity. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  fourth  year  of  Jehoiakim's  reign, 
Nebuchadnezzar,  king  of  Babylon,  having  completed  the 
reduction  of  Nineveh  and  the  Assyrian  empire,  resolved  to 
retaliate  upon  Pharaoh  Necho,  king  of  Egypt,  for  his  inva- 
sion of  his  dominions.  He,  therefore,  marched  against 
him  with  a  powerful  army,  overcame  him  in  a  general 
battle,  and  soon  re-conquered  all  the  country  between  the 
river  Euphrates  and  the  Nile.  He  next  besieged  and  took 
Jerusalem  ;  and,  after  plundering  the  Temple  and  taking 
the  king  prisoner,  he  returned  with  him  and  the  spoil  to 
Babylon.  The  sacred  vessels  of  the  Temple  he  placed  in 
the  temple  of  Belus ;  but  he  soon  after  restored  the  king 
to  his  throne,  on  condition  that  he  should  become  his 
tributary  for  life.     To  secure  Jehoiakim's  fidelity,  Nebu- 


336  THE     ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

chadnezzar  required  as  hostages  certain  members  of  the 
royal  family,  and  a  number  of  the  nobility;  among  the 
latter  of  whom  were  the  prophet  Daniel,  and  his  three 
companions,  Hananiah,  Mishael,  and  Azariah,  afterwards 
known  as  Shadrach,  Meshach,  and  Abednego. 

An  incident  preceded  the  taking  of  Jerusalem  which 
deserves  a  passing  notice.  As  the  Babylonian  army  ap- 
proached the  city,  the  Rechabites,  a  tribe  of  Midianites, 
who  dwelt  in  tents,  apprehending  themselves  in  danger  in 
the  open  country,  fled  into  the  capital  for  safety.  Though 
they  conformed  in  many  respects  to  the  laws  of  Moses,  yet 
they  had  not  been  admitted  as  proselytes,  and  were  not, 
therefore,  entitled  to  attend  the  services  of  the  Temple. 
These  people  the  prophet  Jeremiah,  in  accordance  with 
tlie  command  of  God,  conducted  to  the  Temple,  and  there, 
in  the  presence  of  the  people,  offered  them  wine  to  drink. 
TLis  they  at  once  refused,  assigning  as  a  reason,  that  it 
would  be  a  violation  of  an  institution  of  Rechab,  their 
founder.  The  prophet,  after  commending  their  fidelity  and 
obedience,  turned  to  the  Hebrews  who  were  present,  and 
bitterly  reproached  them,  who  were  God's  peculiar  people, 
for  benig  less  observant  of  His  laws  than  the  poor  Rechab- 
ites  were  of  one  of  the  injunctions  of  their  ancestor. 

This  forcible  illustration  of  their  perverse  and  wicked 
character,  had  no  effect  upon  either  king  or  people ;  and 
the  prophet  was,  therefore,  directed  to  tell  them  plainly, 
that  if  they  did  not  repent  and  change  their  ways,  God 
would  again  bring  Nebuchadnezzar  against  Judah  and  Je- 
rusalem, cause  him  to  lay  waste  the  country,  and  carry 
the  people  away  captives  to  Babylon.  This  fearful  de- 
nunciation only  enraged  Jehoiakim  and  his  subjects  against 
the  prophet;  and  Jeremiah  was,  therefore,  compelled  to 
conceal  h-imself,  for  some  time,  to  escape  their  vengeance. 
The  wicked  king,  however,  though  restrained  from  injuring 


KINGS    OF     JUDAH.  337 

the  prophet  himself,  impiously  burned  the  book  of  his 
prophecies  in  the  presence  of  his  court. 

The  day  of  awful  retribution  against  Jehoiakim  and  his 
house  was  now,  however,  at  hand.  He  had,  for  some 
years,  regularly  paid  the  tribute  levied  upon  him  by  Nebu- 
chadnezzar ;  but  he  at  length  determined  to  throw  off  the 
yoke ;  and  to  enable  himself  to  do  this  the  more  eftectu- 
ally,  he  entered  into  a  close  alliance  with  Necho,  king  of 
Egypt,  the  open  enemy  of  the  king  of  Babylon.  Nebu- 
chadnezzar was,  at  this  time,  in  the  north  of  Syria  ;  and 
being  there  informed  of  the  revolt  and  new  alliance  of 
Jehoiakim,  he  sent  a  number  of  his  auxiliaries  against  him. 
To  these  forces  Jehoiakim  made  a  strong  resistance,  but 
he  was  at  length  taken  prisoner,  put  to  death,  and  his 
body  thrown  into  the  highway,  not  being  allowed  even 
common  burial.  Thus  perished  this  wicked  prince,  in  the 
thirty-seventh  year  of  his  age,  and  the  twelfth  of  his  reign, 
598  A.  C. 

Jehoiakin,  or  Coniah,  the  son  of  Jehoiakim,  was  raised 
to  the  throne  on  the  death  of  his  father ;  but  in  a  brief 
reign  of  three  months  his  incorrigible  impiety  drew  upon 
him  the  bitterest  denunciations  of  Divine  wrath.  At  the 
-expiration  of  that  time  Nebuchadnezzar  led  his  army  in 
person  against  Jerusalem,  and  beseiged  the  city  on  every 
side.  This  so  terrified  Jehoiakin,  that,  without  making  the 
least  resistance,  he  delivered  himself,  his  princes,  the  chief 
ministers  of  state,  and  even  his  own  mother,  up  to  Nebu- 
chadnezzar, who  sent  the  whole  party  prisoners  to  Baby- 
lon. He  took  with  him,  also,  on  his  own  return  to  his 
capital,  ten  thousand  other  captives,  among  whom  were 
the  chief  artisans,  the  men  of  valor  of  the  country,  and 
EzEKiEL,  the  prophet.  Over  the  poor  citizens  left  in  Je- 
rusalem he  placed  Mattaniah,  the  third  son  of  Josiah,  as 
king;  and  exacted  from  him  a  most  solemn  oath  to  be 
15 


338  THE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

faithful  in  his  allegiance  to  the  king  of  Babylon.  To  make 
this  oath  the  more  impressive,  he,  at  the  same  time, 
changed  his  name  to  that  of  Zedekiah,  which  in  the  He- 
brew tongue  signifies  the  Justice  of  the  Lord. 

Zedekiah  was  now  firmly  seated  on  the  throne  of  his 
ancestors,  though  with  a  greatly  impoverished  kingdom ; 
for  all  the  movable  wealth  that  could  be  found,  either  in 
the  palace  or  the  Temple,  had  been  seized  and  sent  to 
Babylon.  In  the  fourth  year  of  his  reign,  the  kings  of 
Edom,  Moab,  Ammon,  and  Tyre,  invited  him  to  join 
them  in  a  confederacy  to  shake  off  the  Babylonish  yoke ; 
but  the  remembrance  of  his  solemn  oath  of  allegiance 
prevented  him  from  listening  to  tlieir  proposals.  Happy 
would  it  have  been  had  he  as  carefully  observed  his  alle- 
giance to  the  Divine  King  ;  but  instead  of  that,  he  daily 
practiced  the  most  revolting  impieties,  notwithstanding  the 
wretched  fate  of  all  his  wicked  predecessors  must  hav@ 
been  familiar  to  him.  The  vicious  example  of  their  king 
was  followed  with  the  utmost  avidity  by  his  depraved  sub- 
jects ;  and  thus  they  were  together  rapidly  ripening  for  the 
destruction  which  had  been  so  long  foretold,  and  which 
now  so  speedily  awaited  them. 

In  the  ninth  year  of  his  reign,  Zedekiah  resolved  to 
revolt  from  the  king  of  Babylon  and  ally  himself  to 
Pharaoh  Hophra,  king  of  Egypt.  This  revolt  and  alli- 
ance was  the  immediate  cause  of  all  the  disasters  that  fol- 
lowed, both  to  Judah  and  Jerusalem.  Against  it  the 
prophet  Jeremiah  earnestly  remonstrated,  and  repeatedly, 
though  exposed  to  the  most  cruel  treatment,  warned  both 
the  king  and  the  people,  that  their  only  hope  of  peace  and 
safety  lay  in  a  close  adherence  to  Nebuchadnezzar. 

Intelligence  of  this  revolt  no  sooner  reached  Nebuchad- 
nezzar than  he  resolved  eflfectually  to  suppress  it.  With 
this  view  he  marched  into  the  la^d  of  Judah  with  a  vast 


KINGS     OF     JUDAH.  339 

army,  and  afier  taking  many  of  the  principal  cities,  laid 
seige  to  Jerusalem.  The  siege  was  vigorously  conducted 
for  some  time,  and  with  every  prospect  of  success  ;  but  in 
the  beginning  of  the  following  year  the  Egyptians  went  to 
the  assistance  of  their  allies ;  and  by  this  circumstance 
Nebuchadnezzar  was,  for  a  short  time,  diverted  from  his 
purpose.  The  alacrity,  however,  with  which  he  raised  the 
siege,  and  advanced  to  give  them  battle,  so  greatly  intimi- 
dated the  Egj-^Dtians,  that  they  immediately  returned  to 
their  own  country,  and  left  Zedekiah  and  his  subjects  to 
their  fate.  The  siege  of  Jerusalem  was  now  renewed,  and 
prosecuted  with  redoubled  vigor  ;  and  at  length  the  city  was 
taken  by  storm,  at  midnight,  after  having  borne,  with  des- 
perate valor,  a  siege  of  eighteen  months.  The  carnage 
which  followed  was  dreadful  beyond  description.  The 
people,  of  all  ages,  were  slaughtered  wherever  they  were 
found.  The  Temple  itself,  even  to  its  sacred  courts, 
streamed  with  blood.  In  the  midst  of  the  confusion, 
Zedekiah,  with  his  family  and  some  of  the  members  of  his 
court,  eflected  his  escape  from  the  city ;  but  he  was  pur- 
sued, and  captured  in  the  plains  of  Jericho,  and  sent  in 
chains  to  Nebuchadnezzar,  who  had  left  the  conclusion  of 
the  war  to  his  generals,  and  was  then  at  Eiblah,  in  Syria. 
After  severely  upbraiding  him  for  his  ungrateful  conduct, 
the  conqueror  ordered  all  his  sons  to  be  slain  in  his  pres- 
ence, and  then  his  own  eyes  to  be  put  out,  that  the 
slaughter  of  his  children  might  be  the  last  sight  on  which 
his  tortured  memory  might  dwell.  Thus  ended  the  reign 
of  Zedekiah,  the  last  king  of  the  house  of  David,  eleven 
years  after  he  was  placed  upon  the  throne,  and  587  A.  C. 
He  was  afterwards  sent  in  fetters  of  brass  to  Babylon,  and 
there  remained  until  his  death. 

Nebuchadnezzar  soon  after  sent  Nebuzaradan,  one  of 
his  principal  officers,  nith  a  large  army,  to  complete  the 


S40  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

desolation  of  both  Judah  and  Jerusalem.  The  city  and  the 
Temple  were  burned  to  the  ground ;  the  gold  and  silver 
which  former  spoilers  had  left,  was  collected  and  sent  to 
Babylon,  and  the  people  still  remaining  in  the  country 
were  also  transported  thither,  excepting  the  poor  of  the 
land,  who  were  left  behind  as  vine-dressers  and  husband- 
men. Nebuchadnezzar,  at  the  end  of  four  years,  again 
entered  Judah,  and  gleaned  a  few  more  of  the  miserable 
inhabitants,  whom  he  sent  to  join  their  brethren  in  cap 
tivity. 

Thus  ended  the  kingdom  of  Judah,  and  the  sovereignty 
of  the  house  of  David,  four  hundred  and  sixty-eight  years 
after  David  himself  commenced  his  reign — three  hundred 
and  eighty-eight  years  from  the  revolt  of  the  ten  tribes — 
and  one  hundred  and  thirty-four  years  from  the  extinction 
of  the  kingdom  of  Israel.  It  is  a  remarkable  circumstance, 
and  shows  how  manifestly  the  supervision  of  Divine  Provi- 
dence extended  over  all  these  melancholy  events,  that  the 
king  of  Babylon .  made  no  attempt  to  colonize  Judah  as 
the  Assyrians  had  Israel,  but  left  the  land  vacant,  that  it 
might  thus  be  ready  to  be  re-occupied  by  the  returning 
Hebrews,  after  their  captivity  and  punishment  for  seventy 
years,  should  be  brought  to  a  close. 


I095- 


V.    MONARCHICAL  PERIOD.  606. 


THE  EAST. 


1095 
1075 
1050 
1025 

lOOC 

975 
950 
925 
900 
875 
850 
825 
800 
775 
750 


Saul. 


Hiram. 
Rezon  (Sj-ria). 

Sheshonk  (Eg.). 


Ethbaal. 

Jezebel, 

Ben-hadad. 


Dido. 


jTHE  HEBREW  MONARCHY. 


SAUL  KING— 1095  B.C. 


1095.         SAUJL.        1055, 
(Zadok.) 
:^jio55.        DAVID.       1015 
Q  }  (Ahimaaz.) 

I  tj  !  1015.  SOLOMON.    975.  H 

Q  ?  (AZARIAH.)  S  M 

gj  (999)  iO 

QOHANAN.) 


THJE  KIXGI>03I  JDIJIIJED 


725 
7CX) 
675 
650 
625 
606 


Interregnum, 

Zachariah. 

Siiallum. 

Menahem, 

Pekahiah. 

Pekah. 

Interregnum. 

Hoshea  (728). 

Sargon  takes  Samaria,  and  puts  an 


PuL  (Ass3'ria). 

Tiglath-pileser. 

Shalmaneser. 


Jeroboam, 

Nadab  {957). 
Baasha.  Elah 

Zimri. 
Omri.  i«^ 

Ahab  (919). 

Ahaziah. 

Jehoram. 
Jehu  (884). 

Jehoahaz 

(855). 

Jehoash  (841) 

Jeroboam  II. 
(825). 


(888) 


end  to  the  Kingdom  of  Israel  (719). 
Sennacherib. 
Tirhaka  (Egypt). 
Essarhaddon. 

Asshur-bani-pal. 
Asshur-emid-ilin. 


(777) 


3 

o 

Z 

(666) 


Rehoboam. 

Abijam. 
Asa  (959). 


Jehoshaphat 

(918). 

Jehoram. 
Ahaziah  (885). 

Athaliah. 
Jehoash  (878). 

Amaziah  (838). 

CI 
Uzziah  (S09) 


Jotham  (757), 

Ahaz  (741). 
Hezekiah. 

Manasseh. 


THE  WEST. 


Amon  (642). 
Josiah  (640). 

Jehoahaz. 
Jehoiakim. 


Necho  (Egypt).  5 

Nebuchadnezzar  (606)  takes  Jerusalem,  and  puts  an 
I     end  to  the  Kingdom  of  judah. 


Temenus,  and  re- 
turn of  the  Hera 
clidae  (1104). 

Codrus  (1065).' 

Ionic  Migration 
(.1044). 


HOMER. 


Dark  Age 
(Greece). 


Hesiod. 
Lycurgus. 

Carthage  (founded). 


Dawn  of  History 
(Greece). 


Arctinus. 
Rome  founded 

(753). 
Romulus  (753). 

Numa  (715). 


1095 

1075 

1050 

1025 

1000 

975 

950 

925 

900 

875 

850 

825 

800 

775 

750 


TuUus  Hostillius 
(672). 

SiMONIDES. 

Ancus  Marcius 
(640). 

Tarquin  I.  (616). 
Sappho. 


725 
700 

675 
650 
625 
606 


CHAPTER    THE    SEVENTH. 
CAPTIVITY  AND  EESTOEATION. 

SECTION  I. 

Fall  of  Jerusalem — Gedaliah  Governor  of  Judaea — InsuiTection  of 
Ishmael — Removal  of  the  People  into  Egypt — Daniel,  the  Prophet, 
in  Babylon — Nebuchadnezzar's  Dream— Its  Interpretation  by  Dan- 
iel— Daniels  Exaltation — Hio  Faithfulness  and  Integrity — The  Warn- 
ing of  the  King  of  Babylon  by  the  Hand-writing  on  the  Wall — The 
Decree  of  Cyrus  permitting  the  Israelites  to  return  to  Judaea. 

When  Nebuchadnezzar,  after  the  destruction  of  Jerusa- 
lem, retired  from  Judsea,  he  left  Gedaliah,  son  of  Ahikam, 
goverDor  of  the  country.  Gedaliah  immediately  took  up 
his  residence  at  Mizpah,  east  of  the  Jordan,  and  was  soon 
after  joined  by  the  prophet  Jeremiah,  Avhom  he  treated 
with  the  utmost  respect  and  reverence. 

As  soon  as  the  position  in  which  Gedaliah  had  been  left 
by  the  Assyrians,  became  known  to  those  Jews  who  had 
escaped  from  Jerusalem  during  the  siege,  they  resorted  to 
him  at  Mizpah,  and  placed  themselves  under  his  protection. 
Among  these  were  Ishmael,  of  the  royal  family  of  David, 
Johanan,  and  many  others,  who,  before  the  destruction  of 
the  city,  had  held  important  positions  in  the  army.  They 
were  all  received  by  the  governor  with  the  utmost  respect, 
and  advised  by  him  to  remain  in  Judrea  as  subjects  of  the 
king  of  Babylon.  To  induce  them  to  adopt  this  course, 
he  allowed  them  to  select  their  own  places  of  residence, 
and  ofiered  them  the  assistance  of  his  followers  to  fit  up 
their  dwellings.    With  these  kind  proposals  they  all  seem- 


342  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

ed  entirely  satisfied,  and  expressed  their  apparent  gratitude 
to  Gedaliah  in  the  warmest  terms. 

Ishmael's  design,  however,  in  repairing  to  Mizpah,  was 
to  murder  the  governor  and  make  himself  king  of  Judaea. 
In  this  horrid  scheme  he  was  assisted  bv  Baalis,  king  of 
the  Ammonites,  by  whom  he  had  been  protected  during 
the  siege  of  Jerusalem.  A  grand  entertainment,  given  by 
Gedaliah  to  all  the  distinguished  men  then  at  Mizpah, 
afibrded  the  traitor  a  favorable  opportunity  for  effecting 
his  base  and  wicked  purpose.  In  the  midst  of  the  banquet 
he  and  his  accomplices  rose  from  the  table,  fell  upon  Geda- 
liah and  the  rest  of  the  company,  and  put  them  all  to  the 
sword.  He  then  took  possession  of  Mizpah,  put  all  the 
inhabitants  who  offered  any  resistance  to  death,  and  made 
the  rest  prisoners.  Perceiving,  however,  that  these  horrid 
massacres  rendered  it  unsafe  for  him  to  remain  at  Mizpah, 
he  left  that  place,  and  taking  with  him  his  captives,  pro- 
ceeded towards  the  land  of  the  Ammonites,  to  place  him- 
self under  the  protection  of  Baalis,  their  king.  In  the 
mean  time  Johanan  and  other  leading  men  of  Judah,  who 
had  remained  faithful  to  Gedaliah,  hastily  brought  together 
such  forces  as  they  could  obtain,  marched  in  pursuit  ol 
Ishmael,  and  overtook  him  at  the  fountain  of  Gibeon. 
When  Johanan  was  observed  by  the  captives  to  be  the 
leader  of  their  pursuers,  they  immediately  rushed  to  him 
and  left  Ishmael  with  only  eight  followers,  with  whom  he 
succeeded  in  escaping  to  the  king  of  Ammon. 

The  death  of  Gedaliah,  and  the  flight  of  Ishmael,  left 
the  people  under  the  care  of  Johanan  and  his  associates ; 
and  these  leaders,  fearing  that  the  Chaldeans  would  return 
and  call  them  to  an  account  for  what  had  passed,  retired 
to  Chimham,  that  they  might  thence,  in  case  of  necessity, 
escape  into  Egypt.  Jeremiah,  as  one  of  the  captives  that 
liad   been  taken   by  Ishmael  from  Mizpah,  accompanied 


THE     CAPTIVITY.  343 

Jiem  thither ;  and,  soon  after  their  arrival,  Johanan  and 
the  other  princes  of  the  people  desired  the  prophet  to 
consult  the  Lord  respecting  their  intended  migration  into 
Egypt,  assuring  him  that  they  would  implicitly  follow  his 
directions.  Jeremiah  complied  with  their  request;  and 
at  the  expiration  of  ten  days  he  called  together,  not  only 
the  leaders,  but  also  the  whole  multitude  of  the  people, 
and  informed  them  that  if  they  remained  in  Judaea  the 
Almighty  would  protect  them  and  build  them  up ;  "  but 
if  they  set  their  faces  to  go  into  the  land  of  Egypt  to 
sojourn  there,  they  shall  die  by  the  sword,  by  famine,  and 
by  the  pestilence." 

They  were  all,  however,  both  leaders  and  people,  re- 
solved to  go  into  Egypt ;  and,  disregarding  the  message, 
therefore,  which  the  prophet  had  delivered  to  them,  they 
departed  from  Chimham  and  settled  in  Migdol,  Daphne, 
Memphis,  and  Thebes.  In  these  places  they  were  no 
sooner  established,  than  they  gave  themselves  up  wholly 
to  idolatry,  worshipping  the  moon  and  other  false  deities 
of  the  Egyptians.  Against  this  impiety  Jeremiah  ear- 
nestly remonstrated,  but  without  effect ;  and  God,  there- 
fore, ordered  the  prophet  to  denounce,  in  the  most  emphatic 
terms,  the  severest  judgments  upon  them,  and  to  tell  them 
explicitly,  that  the  king  of  Egypt,  in  whose  protection  they 
trusted,  should  soon  be  delivered  into  the  hands  of  the 
king  of  Babylon,  as  Zedekiah,  their  own  king,  had  so  re- 
cently been.  The  abandoned  Hebrews  paid  not  the  least 
attention,  however,  to  these  awful  denunciations,  but  per- 
sisted in  their  impieties,  until  the  prediction  of  the  prophet 
was  strictly  fulfilled.  This  occurred  in  570  A.  C,  when 
Nebuchadnezzar  invaded  Egypt,  overran  the  Avhole  coun- 
try, and  carried  all  the  Hebrews  who  escaped  the  sword 
captives  to  Babylon.  The  fate  of  Jeremiah  himself  is 
uncertain,  though  tradition  informs  us  that  he  had  been 


341  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

previously  stoned  to  death  by  his  infatuated  countrymen. 
From  this  time  the  name  of  Hebrew  is  lost  in  that  of 
Jew. 

Thus,  eighteen  years  after  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem, 
was  the  captivity  of  the  Jews  rendered  complete,  and  the 
whole  nation  transferred  to  Chaldaea.  The  great  purposes 
for  which  they  had  been  set  apart  from  other  nations,  as  a 
pecuhar  people,  had  not,  however,  failed.  They  were  still 
destined  to  be  the  depositaries  of  the  designs  of  the  Al- 
mighty towards  the  human  race,  and  to  preserve  in  the 
world  the  knowledge  of  the  true  God.  Many  of  them, 
therefore,  soon  after  they  became  settled  in  the  land  of 
their  exile,  rose  to  positions  of  very  considerable  import- 
ance, and  were  regarded,  not  as  prisoners,  but  as  useful 
emigrants.  After  their  captivity  had  continued  a  few  years, 
they  appear  to  have  experienced  no  other  inconveniences 
than  such  as  naturally  arose  from  the  recollections  of  their 
own  pleasant  land — from  their  position  as  foreigners  in  a 
strange  country— from  the  derision  of  Chaldeans  at  the 
peculiarities  of  their  religion  ;  and,  perhaps,  from  a  distinc- 
tive, personal  tax,  from  which  the  natives  of  the  country 
were  free. 

The  prophet  Daniel,  from  whose  history  Ave  derive  the 
principal  part  of  our  knowledge  of  the  condition  of  the 
Jews  during  their  captivity,  was  one  of  those  early  exiles 
of  noble  family,  who  were  carried  to  Babylon  as  hostages 
for  the  fidelity  of  king  Jehoiakim.  Soon  after  their  arrival 
in  that  city,  he  and  a  number  of  his  young  associates  were 
placed  under  the  care  of  the  chief  eunuch,  to  be  thoroughly 
instructed  in  the  language  and  learning  of  the  Chaldaeans, 
that  they  might  thus  become  prepared  for  positions  in  the 
king's  palace,  and  employments  at  court.  These  instruc- 
tions were  continued  for  three  years,  at  the  expiration  of 
which  the  young  men  were  all  examined  in  the  presence 


THE     CAPTIVITY.  345 

of  the  king ;    when  Daniel  and  his  three  friends,.  Shad- 
rach,  Meshach,  and  Abed-nego,  were  found  to  have  made 
so   much  greater    progress  in  learning    than  their  asso 
ciates,  that  they   were  immediately  enrolled   among  the 
magicians,  or  wise  men. 

After  Daniel  and  his  three  associates  had  been  a  few 
years  at  court,  Nebuchadnezzar  had  a  dream,  which  made 
a  profound  impression  upon  his  mind,  and  which  greatly 
troubled  him,  because  he  could  not,  when  he  awoke,  recall 
any  of  the  particulars  of  it  to  his  memory.  As  great  im- 
portance w^as  attached  to  dreams  in  those  days,  and  as 
men  skilled  in  the  sciences  were  supposed  to  be  able  to 
discern  their  meaning,  therefore,  the  king  sent  for  his  chief 
magicians,  and  required  them  not  only  to  interpret  his 
dream,  but  to  discern  the  dream  itself,  which  he,  unfortu- 
nately, had  forgotten.  The  magicians  replied,  that  they 
could  readily  give  the  interpretation  if  they  knew  the 
dream ;  but  to  tell  the  dream  itself  was  impossible.  -This 
answer  so  exasperated  the  king,  that  he  ordered  all  the 
wise  men  to  be  immediately  put  to  death.  As  Daniel  and 
his  friends,  though  not  present,  were  included  in  this 
order,  he  repaired  to  Arioch,  the  captain  of  the  king's 
guards,  and  requested  of  the  king,  through  that  officer,  a 
brief  respite  of  the  sentence.  The  king  readily  granted 
the  request ;  and  the  Lord,  at  the  earnest  prayer  of  Daniel 
and  his  friends,  revealed  the  secret  to  him 

Nebuchadnezzar,  in  his  dream,  had  seen  a  colossal  image, 
with  a  head  of  gold,  arms  and  breast  of  silver,  belly  and 
thighs  of  brass,  legs  of  iron,  and  toes  partly  iron  and  partly 
clay,  struck  down  by  a  stone,  cut,  apparently  without 
hands,  from  the  mountain,  which  itself  grew  and  filled  the 
whole  earth.  This,  according  to  the  interpretation  of 
Daniel,  figured  forth  "  the  things  to  come  ;"  describing,  by 
characteristic  symbols,  the  succession  of  empires  to  the 
15* 


346  THE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

end  of  time.  With  the  revelation  of  the  dream  and  its 
interpretation,  the  king  was  not  only  satisfied,  but  aston- 
ished ;  and,  presenting  himself  before  Daniel,  he  exclaimed, 
"  Of  a  truth  it  is,  that  your  God  is  a  God  of  gods,  and  a 
Lord  of  kings,  and  a  revealer  of  secrets,  seeing  thou  couldst 
reveal  this  secret."  Nebuchadnezzar,  at  the  same  time, 
raised  Daniel  to  the  eminent  station  of  Archimagus,  or  chief 
of  the  magicians  and  governors  of  the  province  of  Babylon. 
Daniel's  three  friends,  also,  were,  at  his  request,  promoted 
to  places  of  honor  and  importance. 

The  miraculous  development  and  interpretation  of 
Nebuchadnezzar's  dream  produced,  however,  no  lasting 
impression  upon  his  mind,  of  an  overruling  Providence  ; 
and  he,  therefore,  soon  after  set  up  a  colossal  image  of 
gold  in  the  plains  of  Dura,  near  Babylon  ;  and  commanded 
that,  at  the  sound  of  music,  every  one  should  worship  it 
on  pain  of  death.  He  soon  learned  that  this  command  was 
utterly  disregarded  by  Daniel's  three  friends,  Shadrach, 
Meshach,  and  Abed-nego;  and  the  idea  of  disobedience 
in  persons  of  their  high  stations,  so  enraged  him,  that  he 
ordered  them  to  be  at  once  cast  into  "  the  burning  furnace." 
The  heat  of  the  furnace  was  so  great  as  to  destroy  the 
men  that  cast  them  in;  but  they  themselves  remained 
unhurt,  not  even  a  hair  of  their  head  being  singed,  nor 
their  clothes  scorched.  The  king  now  approached,  and 
commanded  them  to  come  forth  out  of  the  furnace ;  and 
when  he  saw  that  they  were  uninjured,  the  prodigy  so 
deeply  affected  him,  that  he  publicly  acknowledged  the 
supremacy  of  the  God  whom  they  served. 

The  character  of  Nebuchadnezzar  was  marked  by  many 
excellent  qualities ;  but  so  inordinate  was  the  pride  with 
which  he  contemplated  the  grandeur  of  his  empire,  and  the 
greatness  of  his  enterprises,  that  he  required  to  be  taught 
that  "  the  Most  High  ruleth  over  all  the  kingdoms  of  the 


THE     CAPTIVITY.  347 

earth,  and  giveth  them  to  whomsoever  he  will."  Of  this  im- 
portant fact  he  was  warned  in  a  dream,  which  Daniel 
intei-preted ;  but  neglecting  the  warning,  "  his  heart  was 
changed  from  man's,  and  a  beast's  heart  was  given  him." 
He  was  soon  after  afflicted  with  an  insanity  which  caused 
him  to  imagine  himself  a  beast;  and,  acting  under  the 
influence  of  this  idea,  he  remained  constantly  abroad  in 
the  fields,  and  lived  upon  wild  herbs.  In  this  debased 
and  forlorn  condition,  the  mighty  conqueror  remained 
seven  years,  at  the  end  of  which  he  was  restored  to  his 
throne  ;  and  after  his  restoration,  one  of  his  first  acts  was 
to  issue  a  proclamation,  humbly  acknowledging  the  signs 
and  wonders  which  the  Most  High  God  had  wrought 
towards  him,  and  declaring  his  conviction,  that  "those 
who  walk  in  pride  he  is  able  to  abase."  He  died  soon 
after,  in  561  A.  C,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Evil- 
Merodach. 

Evil-Merodach  had  administered  the  government  during 
his  father's  insanity,  and  was,  therefore,  well  acquainted 
with  state  aflfairs.  Soon  after  his  accession  he  released 
Jehoiakim,  the  captive  king  of  Judah,  from  the  prison  in 
which  he  had  been  confined  for  thirty-seven  years,  and 
promoted  him  to  great  honors  in  his  palace.  The  reign 
of  this  prince  was,  however,  of  short  duration ;  for,  after 
he  had  been  on  the  throne  only  three  years,  he  was 
treacherously  murdered  by  some  of  the  members  of  his 
own  family. 

Neriglissor,  the  brother-in-law  of  Evil-Merodach,  suc- 
ceeded him ;  and  no  sooner  was  he  seated  on  the  throne, 
than  he  led  a  large  army  against  the  Medes  and  Persians, 
who  had  recently  became  a  most  formidable  enemy  to  the 
Babylonians.  Cyaxares,  king  of  the  Medes,  being  aware 
of  the  movements  of  the  king  of  Babylon,  called-in  the 
aid  of  his  nephew  Cyrus,  an  eminent  Persian  prince,  who, 


348  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

at  the  head  of  thirty  thousand  Persian  troops,  immediately 
marched  to  his  assistance.  The  combined  army  was  placed 
under  the  command  of  Cyrus,  who  at  once  advanced  to 
give  Neriglissor  battle.  In  the  action  that  followed  the 
Babylonians  were  completely  routed,  the  king  and  many 
of  his  army  slain,  and  the  rest  compelled  to  save  them- 
selves by  a  precipitate  flight. 

Laborosoarchad,  the  son  of  Neriglissor,  next  occupied 
the  throne.  This  prince  was  naturally  inclined  to  all  man- 
ner of  cruelty  and  injustice,  in  consequence  of  which,  he 
soon  became  so  odious  to  his  own  subjects,  that  they  con- 
spired against  him,  and  at  the  end  of  a  brief  reign  of  nine 
months,  put  him  to  death. 

Belshazzar,  the  grand-son  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  next  be 
came  king  of  Babylon.  In  the  first  year  of  his  reign 
Daniel  had  his  vision  of  the  four  beasts,  respecting  the 
four  empires  of  the  Chaldeans,  the  Persians,  the  Greeks, 
and  the  Komans ;  and  in  the  third  year,  he  had  the  re- 
markable vision  of  the  ram  and  he-goat ;  by  the  latter  of 
which  was  signified  Alexander  the  Great,  and  by  the 
former,  Darius  Codomannus.  Towards  the  close  of  his 
reign  Belshazzar  gave  a  magnificent  feast  to  his  courtiers 
and  nobles.  The  conversation  of  the  assembled  dignita- 
ries turned  upon  their  gods,  whose  power  had  proved  so 
much  greater  than  that  of  the  gods  of  other  nations ;  and 
this  suggested  to  the  king  th«)  idea  of  sending  for  the 
sacred  vessels  which  his  grand-father  Nebuchadnezzar  had 
brought  from  the  Temple  of  Jerusalem,  and  of  using  them 
as  wine-cups  in  their  riotings.  While  thus  profanely  en- 
gaged, their  attention  was  suddenly  arrested  by  the  appear- 
ance of  a  mysterious  hand  tracing  upon  the  wall,  characters 
which  none  of  them  could  understand.  In  their  alarm, 
they  called  in  the  magicians,  but  the  mystery  was  beyond 
their  power  of  interpretation.     At  length  Daniel  was  sent 


THE     CAPTIVITY,  349 

for ;  and  he,  after  solemnly  rebuking  the  king  for  his  pro- 
fanation of  that  Great  Name  which  his  grand-father  had 
been  compelled  to  honor,  explained  the  terrible  purport  of 
the  inscription  to  be,  that  the  end  of  both  his  life  and  his 
dynasty  was  at  hand.  Belshazzar  lost  his  life  that  very 
night  by  the  conspiracy  of  two  of  his  nobles,  whom  he  had 
grievously  wronged ;  and  in  the  following  year  Cyaxares,* 
or,  as  he  is  called  in  Scripture,  Darius  the  Mede,  took  pos- 
session of  the  kingdom.  Thus  the  Babylonian  empire  was 
merged  in  that  of  the  Medes  and  Persians,  553  A.  C. 

Darius,  immediately  after  he  ascended  the  throne,  di- 
vided the  empire  into  one  hundred  and  twenty  provinces ; 
and,  through  respect  to  Daniel's  integrity  and  learning,  he 
placed  him  at  the  head  of  the  governors  and  princes  who 
presided  over  them.  This  expression  of  superior  confi- 
dence in  the  prophet,  excited  the  envy  and  hatred  of  the 
rest ;  and  they  determined,  therefore,  to  effect  his  destruc- 
tion. His  uprightness  and  integrity,  however,  both  in 
public  and  private  life,  shielded  him  from  all  open  attack ; 
and  they,  therefore,  resolved  to  have  recourse  to  his  reli- 
gion. With  this  view  they  persuaded  the  weak  old  King 
to  issue  a  decree  prohibiting  any  one,  for  the  space  of 
thirty  days,  to  offer  petition  or  prayer  to  any  god  or  man 
but  himself,  under  penalty  of  being  cast  alive  into  the  den 
of  lions.  Daniel,  though  fully  aware  of  the  object  of  this 
decree,  still  continued  to  pray  three  times  a  day  to  the 
God  of  Israel,  with  his  windows  open,  and  his  face  turned 
towards  Jerusalem.  He  was,  therefore,  at  once  accused  to 
the  king  of  disobedience  to  the  royal  decree ;  and  Darius 
now  saw  the  folly  into  which  he  had  been  drawn,  and 
would  gladly  have  spared  his  faithful  friend.  But  being 
reminded  that  among  the  Medes  and  Persians  a  royal  de- 
cree could  not  be  revoked  or  altered,  he  reluctantly  con- 
sented that  his  own  should  be  carried  into  effect.     Daniel 


*  Darius  is  Bometimes  called  Cj^axares  in  Xenophon. 


350  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

was,  accordingly,  delivered  into  the  hands  of  his  enemies, 
and  cast  into  the  den  of  lions. 

The  unhappy  king,  meantime,  retired  to  his  palace,  and 
there  passed  the  night  in  the  deepest  sorrow,  but  not  with- 
out a  glimmering  hope  that  the  God  whom  the  prophet 
had  served  so  faithfully,  would  still  deliver  him.  Early  in 
the  following  morning  he  hastened  to  the  den,  and  in  the 
most  plaintive  tones  called  to  Daniel,  saying,  "  0  Daniel, 
servant  of  the  living  God,  is  thy  God,  whom  thou  servest 
continually,  able  to  deliver  thee  from  the  lions  f  To  this 
earnest  inquiry  the  prophet,  from  within  the  den,  cheerfully 
replied,  "  0  king,  live  forever !  My  God  hath  sent  his 
angel,  and  hath  shut  the  lions'  mouths,  that  they  have  not 
hurt  me :  forasmuch  as  before  him  innocency  was  found  in 
me ;  and  also  before  thee,  0  king,  have  I  done  no  hurt." 
The  joy  of  Darius  at  finding  one  whom  he  so  highly 
valued  thus  miraculously  preserved,  was  without  limit ; 
and  ordering  Daniel  to  be  immediately  taken  out  of  the 
den,  he  commanded  that  his  accusers  should  all  be  thrown 
into  it.  This  was  done,  and  the  lions  instantly  seized  and 
devoured  them. 

The  manifest  providence  of  God  in  the  preservation  of 
Daniel,  produced  so  deep  an  impression  upon  the  mind  of 
Darius,  that  he  immediately  issued  the  following  decree 
throughout  all  his  dominions  : — "  Peace  be  multiplied  unto 
you.  I  make  a  decree  that  in  every  kingdom  of  my  do- 
minion, men  shall  tremble  and  fear  before  the  God  of 
Daniel;  for  he  is  the  living  God,  and  steadfast  forever, 
and  his  kingdom  that  which  shall  not  be  destroyed,  and 
his  dominion  shall  be  even  unto  the  end." 

The  death  of  Darius  the  Mede  occurred  in  551  A.  C, 
two  years  after  he  ascended  the  throne  of  Babylon ;  and  as 
his  successor,  the  illustrious  Cyrus,  was,  at  that  time,  en- 
gaged in  distant  wars,  the 'kingdom  was  usurped  by  Nabo- 


THE     CAPTIVITY.  351 

nadius,  a  Babylonian  nobleman.  Having,  however,  at 
length  subdued  all  his  western  enemies,  including  even 
Croesus,  king  of  Lydia,  Cyrus  returned  to  the  East,  and 
led  his  troops  against  the  mighty  city.  Babylon  held  out 
for  two  years  against  him,  and  was  then  taken  by  the  re- 
markable stratagem  of  diverting-  the  course  of  the  river 
Euphrates,  which  flowed  through  the  city,  and  entering  by 
night  through  the  dry  channel.  This  recovery  of  Baby- 
lon from  Nabonadius,  with  all  the  circumstances  attending 
it,  had  been  minutely  described  by  the  prophet  Isaiah,  and 
Cyrus  mentioned  by  name,  more  than  a  century  before  that 
conqueror  was  born. 

The  prophet  Daniel,  though  very  old,  was  still  living 
when  Babylon,  in  536  A.  C,  was  re-taken  by  Cyrus ;  and 
there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  he  was  highly  esteem- 
ed, and  even  venerated,  by  the  conquerer.  As  Cyrus,  in 
some  of  his  decrees,  intimates  his  knowledge  of  those 
prophecies  in  Isaiah  which  speak  of  himself,  Daniel  had, 
doubtless,  directed  his  attention  to  them  ;  and  as  the  prophet 
had  previously  ascertained  from  the  prophecies  of  Jere- 
miah, that  the  captivity  was  to  continue  seventy  years,  he 
now  found  that  the  expiration  of  that  period  left  the  sove- 
reign power  in  the  hands  of  Cyrus,  of  whom  Isaiah  has  so 
particularly  prophesied  as  the  person  designed  "  to  restore 
the  captivity  of  Judah."  He  therefore  communicated  these 
facts  to  Cyrus ;  and  as  the  communication  was  accompa- 
nied by  the  claim  that  the  God  whom  the  Hebrews  wor- 
shipped was  the  same  Almighty  Being  who  had  raised  him 
up,  and  had  given  him  all  the  greatness  and  glory  by  which 
he  was  sarrounded,  it  must  have  made  a  deep  impression 
upon  the  conquerer's  mind. 

Animated  by  this  impression,  Cyrus  immediately  issued 
a  decree  in  which,  after  acknowledging  the  supremacy  of 
Jehovah,  and  that  to  Him  he  was  indebted  for  all  his  king- 


852  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

doms,  he  gave  full  permission  to  the  Jews,  throughout  his 
dominJbns,  to  return  to  their  own  land,  and  to  rebuild  the 
city  and  Temple  of  Jerusalem.  This  happy  intelligence 
was  no  sooner  circulated,  than  the  members  of  the  later 
captivity — those  of  the  tribes  of  Judah,  Benjamin,  and 
Levi — repaired  from  their  different  abodes,  in  large  num 
bers,  to  Babylon — some  to  make  preparations  for  their 
journey,  and  others,  who  did  not  design  to  return  them 
selves,  to  assist  those  that  intended  to  go.  The  great 
majority  of  the  existing  race  had  been  born  in  Chaldaia, 
and  had  there  established  themselves  in  family  relations, 
and  surrounded  themselves  by  associations  and  comforts, 
which  they  were  not  willing  to  abandon.  Hence,  only  a 
zealous  minority  were  disposed  to  avail  themselves  of  the 
decree  in  their  favor  ;  and  in  the  opinion  of  the  Jews 
themselves,  the  more  illustrious  portion  of  their  nation 
never  returned  to  their  own  land. 


SECTION    II. 

The  Jews  conducted  back  to  Jerusalem  by  Zerubbabel  and  Jeshua— 
Celebrate  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles  on  the  Site  of  Jerusalem,  and 
prepare  to  rebuild  the  Temple — Opposed  by  the  Samaritans— The 
Temple  completed — Commission  of  Ezra — His  Improvements  and 
Administration — The  Plot  of  Haman — Its  Discovery,  and  the  Exalta- 
tion of  Mordecai — Commission  of  Nehemiah — Close  of  the  History  of 
the  Old  Testament. 

The  arrangement  for  the  return  of  the  Jews  from  their 
captivity  bemg  completed,  they  left  Babylon  in  the  month 
of  March,  535  A.  C,  under  the  guidance  of  Zerubbabel, 
the  grandson  of  king  Jehoiakin,  and  Jeshua,  a  grandson 
of  Jozedech,  who  was  high -priest  when  Jerusalem  was  de- 
stroyed by  Nebuchadnezzar.  The  returning  exiles  num- 
bered forty-two  thousand  three  hundred  and  sixty,  besides 


J 

606.           YI.   BABYLONIAN 

PERIOD.          536. 

THE  WEST.      1 

THE  HEBREWS  IN  BABYLON.!       THE  EAST. 

606 

i 

Anaximander  b. 



Nebuchadnezzar  takes  Jerusalem. 

Necho  (Egypt). 

606 

Sappho  (flourish'd) ' 

Cd     I 

606.  Daniel  and 

'  ^ 

Carchemish 

1 
1 

g-o 

others  taken  cap- 

1   fB    — 

,__ 

(b.  606). 

1 

■<  s 

tive  to  Babylon. 

R 

\ 

s^ 

gi- 

'^^ 

P) 

Ps.wiis  (Egypt). 

>,i  -^n  5 

Jehoiachin  (599). 

'.    ~  — 

C 

j 

THALES 

ir^?) 

*<   ^ 

> 

CYAXARES(Med.). 

1  600 

AND   THE 

'1- 

599.  Jerusalem 
taken    a    second 

! 

Alyattes  (Lyd.). 

600} 

SEVEN  SAGES. 

tune,  and 

?  3  ~ 

^ 

Cyrus  (b.  599). 

^    !|     -    ?     J 

Zedekiah  made 

2.-= 

>" 

Laws  of  Solon     "  !  ^^  I 

King. 

-^1 

^ 

I 

(594).       ;B:i^| 

(Serai.\h.) 

'?! 

7:     ; 

1      i 

Agtyages  (594). 

! 

An.\chaksis.       I  5    1  -o  ^ 

Rebellion  of 

S-  o' 

1 

J590 

N  U^\ 

Zedekiah  (593), 

te 

BABYLON 1 

590     ; 

Periandsr 

Prophecies  of 
Jeremiah. 

^^1 

M 

MEDIA         1  „_ 
LYDIA          {''^- 
EGYPT.       J 

prominent 
monarchies 

(d.  5S6). 

[>,\\  E  § 

Jerusalem 

'      5. 

c   : 

?!      cl'' 

destroyed  (587). 

=  il 

7\ 

i|    ||Sl 

Qehozadack.) 

^^ 

(625-555)- 

580 

580 

Pythagoras 

1  !|  o§ 

1  o\  i. 

1 

(b.  58.). 

ll 

THE 

PREDICTIONS 

1  Ks 

5ll 

Servius  Tullius 

." 

c^^ 

OF    EZEKIEL. 

CIO- 

5 

(578). 

^9 

Jeremiah  (d.  577) 

^1 

1 

Tyre  taken  (572). 

^SOP  (fl.) 

^ 

BO 

Image  of 

r:: 

te 

570 

Phalaris. 

^ 

0  "^ 

Nebuchadnezzar 
and 

P  5^ 

^ 

Amasis  (Eg>'pt)- 

570 

Anacreon  (b.  550). 

w2 

c  0 

his  Dreams. 

fl 

S 

Evil-merodack 

7^ 

"i-p 

The  insanity  and 

^1 

fe? 

(563). 

First  Comedy 

p 

i  '^  ?^ 

recover}^  of 

as 

»■ 

(Greece,  562). 

'^ 

Nebuchadnezzar 

1  Co 

7 

Confucius. 

560 

PiSISTRATUS  (560). 

5 

c 

Crcesus  (560). 
Neriglissar 

560 

1 

THE  VISIONS 

S?- 

C   1 

>  1 

(559). 

Simonides  (b.  556). 

1 

1  '"  0 

(555) 

1 

Conquest  of  Media 
by  Cyrus. 

!i> 

Is 

OF  DANIEL. 

1  fS.rt 
1  c  ^ 

1 

SI 

Laborosoarchod 

s3 

^s 

33. 

(556). 

550 

Ibycus  (fl.) 

3> 

?a 

0 

Labynetl's. 

550 

3 

^ 

Belshazzar 

i> 

l^ 

te 

(S55-53S). 

Anaximenes  (fl.) 

='  CO 

-'S 

b^ 

Conquest  of  Lydia 

Corinthian  Order. 

N 
n 

537.  Daniel  in 

3  0 
P-O 

by  Cyrus  (546). 

c 

THE  Lion's  den. 

<•« 

■ 

Zoroaster. 

540 

Cadmus  (Hist.) 

a 
a 

1   538.  The  Hand- 

IJ 

1 

540 

w 

D. 

1  writing  upon  the 

0  0 

r 

w 

1  wall,  and 

C  0 
3  P 

P) 

0 
>< 

3 

Fall  of  Babylon. 

P 

Babylon  taken  by 
Cyrus  (538). 

_H 

536.   Decree  of 

ri' 

536 

First  Tragedy 
(Greece,  535). 

1 

Cyrus. 

1         ^ 

Edict  of  Cyrus. 

536 

RETCRN  FROJI  CAPTIVITY. 

THE     KESTORATION.  353 

seven  thousand  three  hundred  and  thirty-seven  male  and 
female  servants,  and  more  than  eight  thousand  beasts  of 
burthen. 

Before  the  exiles  departed  from  Babylon,  Cyrus  caused 
all  the  sacred  vessels  which  had  been  carried  away  from 
Jerusalem  by  Nebuchadnezzar  to  be  given  up  to  them, 
that  they  might  again  be  employed  in  the  service  of  the 
sanctuary.  Zerubbabel  was  also  entrusted  with  large  con- 
tributions from  the  Jews  who  still  remained  in  Chald^a, 
towards  the  expense  of  rebuilding  the  Temple.  On  reach- 
ing the  land  of  Judaea,  the  whole  company  repaired  at  once 
to  the  site  of  Jerusalem ;  and  finding  the  place  utterly 
desolate,  they  raised,  by  voluntary  contribution,  a  large 
sum  towards  rebuilding  the  Temple.  They  then  separated, 
according  to  their  families  and  tribes,  and  secured  for 
themselves  such  comforts  and  conveniences  as  their  cir- 
cumstances required. 

Having  rebuilt  many  cities  that  had  been  destroyed,  and 
cultivated  the  waste  lands  around  them,  the  people  all  re- 
paired, in  the  latter  part  of  the  following  September,  to  Jeru- 
salem, and  celebrated  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles,  offering  their 
sacrifices  on  an  altar  erected  on  the  ruins  of  the  Temple. 
They  then  applied  themselves  with  such  zeal  to  preparing 
for  the  restoration  of  that  edifice,  that,  within  a  year  from 
their  departure  from  Babylon,  the  foundations  of  the 
second  Temj^le  were  laid  amidst  songs  of  rejoicing  and 
thanksgiving.  As  the  work  advanced,  the  Samaritans 
manifested  a  desire  to  assist  in  it,  and  to  claim  a  commu- 
nity of  worship  in  the  new  Temple ;  but  any  association 
with  them  was  declined  by  the  Jews,  on  the  ground  that 
the  decree  of  the  Persian  king  extended  only  to  the  race  of 
Israel.  This  so  incensed  the  Samaritans,  that  they  re- 
solved to  thwart,  if  possible,  the  whole  undertaking ;  and 
as  they  could  not  openly  rebel  against  the  plain  decree  of 


354  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

Cyrus,  they  resorted  to  an  unscrupulous  use  of  their  money 
and  influence  among  the  ofticers  of  the  government ;  and 
in  this  manner  they  raised  such  obstructions  that  the  peo- 
ple became  discouraged,  and  the  work,  for  some  time,  pro- 
ceeded slowly,  and  was  at  length  suspended  altogether. 
The  conduct  of  the  Samaritans  upon  this  occasion  was 
the  chief  cause  of  the  enmity  which  ever  after  existed  be- 
tween them  and  the  Jews. 

The  suspension  of  the  rebuilding  of  the  Temple  extended 
from  the  latter  part  of  the  reign  of  Cyrus,  through  the 
reigns  of  Cambyses  and  Smerdis,  to  the  second  year  of  the 
reign  of  Darius  Hystaspes.  In  this  long  interval  the  people 
gradually  became  indifl:erent  to  the  work,  and  were  inclined 
to  conclude  that  the  appointed  time  for  its  execution  had 
not  yet  arrived.  From  this  lethargy  they  were  at  length 
aroused  by  the  prophet  Haggai,  and  the  building  was  re- 
sumed with  fresh  zeal.  This  zeal  was,  indeed,  somewhat 
damped  by  the  discouraging  regrets  of  the  old  men  who 
had  seen,  in  their  youth,  the  Temple  of  Solomon,  and  who 
clearly  perceived  that  this  would  be  a  far  inferior  building. 
Its  inferiority  was  not,  however,  the  principal  cause  of  their 
grief,  for  that  they  could  have  borne  ;  but  the  Ark  of  the 
Covenant,  with  the  mercy  seat  which  v/as  in  it,  the  holy 
fire  upon  the  altar,  the  Urim  and  Thummim,  the  Spirit  of 
Prophecy,  and  the  Shechinah,  or  Cloud  of  the  Divine  Pj"e- 
sence — these  glories  of  the  former  Temple — were  irrecover- 
ably lost.  But  to  remove  these  discouragements,  the 
prophet  Haggai  was  commissioned  to  inform  them  that 
the  ultimate  glory  of  this  second  Temple  should  far  exceed 
that  of  the  first — not  by  greater  splendor  of  structure,  but 
by  the  presence  within  its  walls  of  the  Messiah,  so  long 
foretold  and  expected,  as  "  the  desire  of  all  nations." 

The  renewal  of  the  work  roused  afresh  the  opposition 
of  the  Samaritans,  M'ho  represented  to   Tatnai,  the  Per- 


THE     RESTORATION.  355 

sian  governor  of  Syria,  that  the  Jews  were  erecting  the 
Temple  without  authority,  and  if  they  were  permitted  to 
continue  the  work,  the  result  would  be  very  prejudicial  to 
the  king.  These  representations  induced  Tatnai  to  repair 
to  Jerusalem  and  inquire  of  Zerubbabel,  the  governor,  and 
of  the  elders  of  the  people,  by  what  authority  they  were 
erecting  the  Temple.  Zerubbabel  replied  that  all  their 
proceedings  were  sanctioned  by  the  decree  of  Cyrus ;  upon 
which  Tatnai  immediately  wrote  to  the  king,  informing 
him  of  all  that  had  passed  between  himself  and  the  elders 
of  the  Jews,  and  requesting  specific  directions  for  his 
future  conduct  towards  them.  Darius  no  sooner  received 
this  communication,  than  he  ordered  search  to  be  made  for 
the  decree  of  Cyrus  upon  which  the  Jews  based  their  pro- 
ceedings. The  decree  was  soon  discovered,  and  it  was 
found,  on  examination,  not  only  to  authorize  the  erection  of 
the  Temple,  but  to  direct  the  local  government  to  aftbrd 
such  assistance  and  support  as  the  Jews  might  require. 
These  the  Jews  had  not  ventured  to  ask ;  but  the  orders 
of  Darius,  which  immediately  followed,  commanded  that 
they  should  be  given.  Under  the  impulse  thus  imparted 
to  it,  the  work  proceeded  with  spirit ;  and  at  the  expira- 
tion of  four  years,  the  Temple  was  completed.  The  dedi- 
cation took  place  in  516  A.  C,  and  was  attended  with 
great  solemnity  and  rejoicing.  The  old  ritual  service  was 
resumed  at  the  following  Passover. 

The  Jews,  after  the  rebuilding  of  the  Temple,  enjoyed 
thirty- one  years  of  repose  under  the  protection  of  Darius 
Hystaspes ;  and  at  his  death,  which  occurred  in  485  A.  C, 
he  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Xerxes,  the  Ahazuerus  of 
Scripture,  who,  notwithstanding  the  frequent  attempts  of  the 
Samaritans  to  prejudice  his  mind  against  the  Jews,  seems 
to  have  treated  them  with  equal  kindness.  Xerxes,  after 
a  reign  of  twenty-one  years,  was  succeededj  in  464  A.  C, 


356  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

by  his  son  Artaxerxes  Longimanus,  and  daring  his  long 
reign  several  circumstances  of  great  interest  to  the  Jewish 
people  occurred. 

Among  these  circumstances,  the  most  important  was  the 
determination  of  the  Jews  to  rebuild  the  city  of  Jerusalem 
on  a  regular  plan,  and  to  surround  it  with  strong  walls. 
This  no  sooner  became   known  to  the   Samaritans    and 
other  surrounding  nations,  than  they  resolved  to  prevent, 
if   possible,    its  execution.      With   this   view    they   rep- 
resented  to    the    Persian    government    that    its    western, 
dominions  would  be  endangered  by  the  fortification  of  a 
city  noted,  in  times  past,  for  its   turbulent  character,  as 
well  as  for  the  power  of  its  former  kings.     These  represent- 
ations produced  the  designed  effect;    and    hence,  orders 
were  issued  from  the  king,  prohibiting  the  surrounding  of 
the  city  with  walls,  as  proposed.  Artaxerxes  soon  after,  how- 
ever, learned  the  true  position  and  character  of  the  Jewish 
people,  and  the  favorable  sentiments  of  Cyrus  and  Darius 
Hystaspes  towards  them,  as  manifested  in  the  conduct  and 
edicts  of  those  princes.     He  learned,  also,  the  veneration 
with  which  the  God  of  the  Hebrews  had  been  regarded  by 
the  most  eminent  of  his  predecessors.     All  this  is  mani- 
fested in  the  terms   of  the  commission,  by  which,  in  the 
seventh  year  of  his  reign,  Ezra,  the  priest  and  scribe,  was 
authorized  to  proceed  to  Jerusalem,  to  set  in  order  what- 
ever related  to  the  service  and  worship  of  Jehovah.     The 
Persian  king  seems  still,  however,  to  have  had  some  fears 
of  the  future  strength  of  the  Jews ;  for  Ezra,  with  all  his 
powers,  was   not  permitted   to  rebuild  the  walls  of  the 
city. 

The  commission  with  which  Ezra  was  invested  had,  at 
this  time,  become  indispensably  necessary  to  the  Jewish 
nation ;  for,  after  the  death  of  the  first  leaders  of  the  res- 
toration, Zerubbabel,  the  governor,  Jeshua,  the  high-priest^ 


THE     RESTORATION.  357 

and  the  prophets  Haggai  and  Zechariah,  the  state,  both  in 
the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  departments,  remained,  for  many 
years,  in  the  most  unsettled  condition.  Besides  its  extent, 
the  terms  of  Ezra's  commission  were  so  exactly  applicable 
to  the  circumstances  of  the  Jewish  people,  as  to  suggest 
the  idea  that  it  was  procured  from  the  king  by  some  of 
the  influential  Jews  who  still  remained  in  Chaldaea.  Ezra 
was  authorized,  as  governor,  to  appoint  superior  and 
inferior  judges,  to  correct  abuses,  to  enforce  the  observance 
of  the  law,  and  to  punish  the  refractory  with  fines,  im- 
prisonment, and  even  death,  should  their  offenses  require 
it.  Such  of  the  Jews  as  were  thus  inclined,  were  invited 
to  accompany  Ezra ;  and  from  those  who  preferred  to  re- 
main in  Chaldsea,  he  was  authorized  to  collect  contributions 
for  the  use  of  the  Temple.  To  the  fund  thus  raised  the 
king  and  his  council  liberally  contributed ;  and  the  oflBcers 
of  the  royal  revenues  in  Syria  and  other  western  provinces, 
were  directed  to  furnish  Ezra  with  as  much  silver,  wheat, 
wine,  oil,  and  salt,  as  might  be  required  to  sustain  the 
sacrifices  and  offerings  of  the  Temple  without  interruption. 
This  liberality  towards  the  Jews,  is  supposed  to  have  arisen 
from  a  desire  to  avert  from  the  king  and  his  sons  the  wrath 
of  their  God,  whom  the  Persians  evidently  held  in  the 
highest  honor. 

Preparations  for  the  departure  of  Ezra  and  his  followers 
being  completed,  they  assembled  on  the  banks  of  the  river 
Ahava,  near  Babylon,  designing  thence  to  commence  their 
journey.  The  Levitical  tribe  had  hitherto  manifested 
little  inclination  to  leave  their  eastern  home  and  return  to 
Judgea ;  and  as,  in  order  to  sustain  the  priesthood,  their 
presence  in  Jerusalem  was  indispensably  necessary,  Ezra 
obtained  from  the  king  an  exemption  from  taxes  of  all  who 
would  return  and  engage  in  the  service  of  the  Temple, 
By  this  means  he   succeeded  in   inducing   some  of  the 


358  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

priestly  families  to  accompany  him.  About  six  thousand 
persons  in  all,  comprising  seventeen  hundred  and  fifty-four 
men,  and  the  rest,  women  and  children,  set  out  with  Ezra 
on  their  journey  ;  and  as  the  wilderness  through  which  their 
march  would  lead  them  was  infested  with  predatory  Arab 
tribes,  the  whole  party,  in  solemn  fasting  and  prayer,  cast 
themselves  upon  the  care  of  the  Almighty.  God  rewarded 
their  confidence  by  extending  over  them  his  protecting 
care  ;  and  at  the  expiration  of  four  months,  they  all  arrived 
at  Jerusalem  in  safety. 

Having  deposited  in  the  Temple  the  donations  with 
which  he  had  been  intrusted,  and  made  know^n  his  commis- 
sion to  the  governors  of  the  surrounding  provinces,  Ezra 
earnestly  applied  himself  to  the  work  of  reformation.  He 
first  removed  all  the  foreign  and  idolatrous  women  whom 
many  of  the  people,  and  even  of  the  priests  and  Levites, 
had  married,  contrary  to  the  law,  and  then  caused  the  law 
to  be  publicly  read  and  explained  by  interpreters,  to  those 
who  understood  only  the  Chaldaeac  dialect  in  which  they 
had  been  brought  up.  This  necessarily  required  a  great 
increase  of  copies  of  the  law,  and  it  is  generally  believed 
that  Ezra,  at  this  time,  collected  and  revised  the  sacred 
books  which  compose  the  Old  Testament,  and  arranged 
them  in  the  form  in  which  they  now  appear. 

While  Ezra  was  engaged  in  these  labors  of  reformation 
in  Judrea,  the  Jews  who  still  remained  in  Chaldcea  were  in 
imminent  peril  of  a  general  massacre.  In  the  third  year 
of  his  reign,  Artaxerxes,  the  Persian  monarch,  had  put  away, 
for  an  act  of  disobedience,  his  queen  Vashti,  and  had  taken 
in  her  place  a  beautiful  Jewish  damsel  named  Esther,  the 
niece  of  Mordecai,  a  Benjaraite,  and  one  of  the  officers  of 
the  palace.  After  some  years,  the  chief  place  in  the  king's 
favor  was  obtained  by  Haman,  an  Amalekite ;  and  to  him 
the  king  required  that  all  his  servants,  and  even  officers, 


THE     RESTORATION.  359 

should  bow  in  that  peculiar  manner  by  whicb  the  Persians 
testified  the  highest  respect.  Mordecai,  instead  of  observ- 
ing this  act  of  homage,  would  suffer  Haman  to  pass  by 
without  any  of  those  marks  of  respect  wliich  others  con- 
stantly paid  to  him.  This  naturally  attracted  the  atten- 
tion and  excited  the  inquiries  of  Haman  ;  and  upon  hearing 
that  Mordecai  was  a  Jew,  he  resolved  to  resent  the  insult, 
by  bringing  about,  not  only  the  destruction  of  the 
offender  himself,  but  also  that  of  the  whole  race  to  which 
he  belonged. 

A  measure  so  desperate  as  that  which  Haman  now  con- 
templated, required  the  utmost  caution;  and,  therefore, 
having  first  fixed,  by  lot,  a  propitious  day  for  its  execution, 
he  repaired  to  the  king,  and,  by  representing  to  him  in 
general  terms,  that  there  was  a  people  scattered  throughout 
his  dominions  of  peculiar  customs,  of  offensive  manners, 
and  of  refractory  and  rebellions  dispositions,  he  obtained 
from  him  an  order  for  their  extermination.  This  order 
was  no  sooner  received  than  couriers  were  sent  to  all  the 
provinces,  directing  that  the  Jews,  without  regard  to  age 
or  sex,  should  be  entirely  extirpated,  on  the  thirteenth  day 
of  the  month  Adar,  and  their  property  taken  as  a  prey. 
^Vlien  this  became  known  in  Shushan,  the  metropolis,  all 
the  Jews  in  that  city  expressed  their  concern  in  loud 
lamentations,  and  by  assuming  garments  of  deep  mourning. 
Mordecai  immediately  repaired  to  the  palace,  and  commu- 
nicated the  sad  tidings  to  Esther  the  queen ;  and  she  at 
once  resolved  to  intercede  with  the  king  for  the  safety  of 
her  people.  This  was  an  undertaking  of  great  peril ;  for  it 
was  death  to  appear  before  the  king  uncalled,  and  she  had 
not,  for  some  time,  been  invited  into  his  presence. 

Esther  well  knew,  however,  that  the  Almighty  alone 
could  so  control  events  as  to  bring  about  their  deliver- 
ance ;   and  she  therefore  requested  Mordecai  and  all  the 


860  THE     ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

Other  Jews  in  Shuslian  to  unite  with  her  in  solemn  fasting 
and  prayer  for  three  days,  promising  to  present  herself,  at 
the  expiration  of  that  time,  in  the  presence  of  the  king, 
and  if  possible,  avert  the  threatened  calamity.  At  the 
end  of  the  three  days  she  arrayed  herself  in  her  royal 
robes,  and,  attended  by  her  maidens,  entered  the  inner 
court  of  the  palace,  where  she  found  the  king  seated  upon 
his  throne.  He  was  fortunately  in  a  pleasant  humor,  and 
he,  therefore,  no  sooner  beheld  the  queen  than  he  extended 
to  her  the  golden  sceptre,  which  assured  the  forgiveness  of 
her  intrusion.  She  then  invited  the  king  and  Haman  to  a 
banquet,  at  which  she  improved  the  favorable  opportunity 
with  sufch  consummate  tact,  that  the  design  of  Haman 
appeared,  in  the  king's  view,  as  a  plot  for  the  destruction 
of  the  queen  and  her  people ;  and  in  his  rage  he  ordered 
him  to  be  hanged  upon  the  very  gallows  which  he  himself 
had  prepared  for  Mordecai.  But  as  the  word  of  a  Persian 
king  could  not  be  altered,  the  murderous  edict  which  had, 
at  Haman's  instance,  been  issued,  could  not  be  revoked ; 
and  all  that  could  be  done,  therefore,  was  to  allow  the 
Jews  to  defend  themselves  against  those  who  should 
attempt  to  put  the  first  order  into  execution.  This  occa- 
sioned much  bloodshed  throughout  the  empire;  but  the 
Jewish  nation  was  preserved,  and  the  deliverance  thus 
wrought  is  still  commemorated  by  an  annual  feast,  called 
the  Feast  of  Purim,  or  Lots. 

Another  incident  in  this  remarkable  history  deserves 
attention.  In  the  interval  between  the  issuing  of  the 
order  for  the  destruction  of  the  Jews  and  the  time  of  its 
execution,  the  king  s  attention  was  providentially  drawn 
to  the  fact,  that  a  domestic  plot  against  his  life  had  been 
formerly  detected  and  made  known  by  Mordecai.  He  then 
asked  what  reward  had  been  conferred  on  the  man  to  whom 
he  owed  his  life ;  and  being  informed  that  he  had  hitherto 


THE     RESTORATION.  361, 

received  no  mark  of  favor,  he  sent  for  Haman,  and  asked 
liim  what  ought  to  be  done  for  the  man  "  whom  the  king 
delighted  to  honor."  Supposing  that  the  king  referred  to 
himself,  Haman  enumerated  distinctions  of  the  very  highest 
class,  bordering  even  on  those  which  belonged  to  royalty 
itself:  he  was,  therefore,  utterly  confounded  when  the  king 
directed  him  to  see  that  all  these  honors  were  bestowed 
upon  Mordecai,  the  Jew — the  very  Mordecai  for  whom  he 
had  just  prepared  a  gallows  fifty  cubits  high.  Haman 
obeyed  in  silence ;  and  on  his  own  downfall,  which  imme- 
diately followed,  Mordecai  was  promoted  to  his  place,  and 
thus  became  the  protector  of  his  nation. 

While  these  and  various  other  incidents  relating  to  the 
Jews  were  transpiring  in  Chaldaea,  Ezra  was  endeavoring 
to  carry  out  his  plans  of  improvement  at  Jerusalem ;  but 
it  was  not  until  the  twentieth  year  of  Artaxerxes'  reign, 
that  the  long- desired  permission  to  build  the  walls  of  the 
city  was  received.  This  permission  was  obtained  by  Nehe- 
miah,  an  eminent  Jew,  who  held  the  high  oflBce  of  royal 
cup-bearer,  and  whose  concern  that  "  the  city  of  his 
fathers'  sepulchres  lay  waste,"  having  been  noticed  by 
the  king,  led  to  the  inquiries  which  induced  this  result. 
Nehemiah  himself  was  permitted  to  go  to  Jerusalem,  and 
was  invested  with  full  authority,  ae  governor  of  the  pro- 
vince, to  build  the  walls  of  the  city,  and  to  make  such 
other  improvements  as  he  might  deem  expedient.  On  his 
departure  he  carried  with  him  orders  from  the  king  to  the 
governors  of  the  other  western  provinces,  to  render  him 
every  possible  assistance,  and  to  Asaph,  the  keeper  of  the 
forests  of  Lebanon,  to  furnish  him  with  such  timber  as  he 
might  require. 

Thus  amply  commissioned,  Nehemiah  proceeded  to  Ju- 
daea, escorted  thither  by  a  body  of  Persian  officers  and 
cavalry.     When  he  arrived  at  Jerusalem  he  found  the  city 
16 


862  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

itself  unbuilt,  and  containing  a  very  scanty  population. 
On  making  known  his  commission  to  the  principal  persons 
of  the  nation,  he  found  them  all  disposed  to  enter  zealously 
into  the  undertaking.  The  building  of  the  new  walls  was, 
accordingly,  at  once  commenced  on  the  old  foundations ; 
but  the  Samaritans  and  other  enemies  of  the  Jews  be- 
came alarmed  at  this  movement,  and  endeavored,  by  every 
means  in  their  power,  to  thwart  the  design.  The  Jews 
were,  however,  too  much  in  earnest  to  be  turned  from 
their  purpose ;  and  they  therefore  armed  the  workmen, 
and  still  farther  protected  them  by  a  guard  of  armed  citi- 
zens, as  they  w'orked  in  bands  upon  different  parts  of  the 
wall.  In  this  manner  the  whole  wall,  with  its  gates  and 
towers,  was  built  in  the  short  space  of  fifty-two  days. 

This  great  and  important  work  was  accomplished  in 
444  A.  C ;  and  Nehemiah  next  took  measures  to  induce 
as  many  of  the  people  as  were  required  for  that  purpose 
to  come  and  settle  in  the  city.  His  own  wealth  was  suffi- 
cient to  enable  him  to  maintain  his  numerous  servants,  to 
keep  an  open  table,  and  to  defray  the  other  expenses  inci- 
dent to  his  office  as  governor,  without  receiving  from  his 
countrymen  the  allowance  to  which  he  was  entitled.  The 
city  was,  therefore,  soon  inhabited,  the  neglected  service  of 
the  Temple  re-established,  and  the  people  thoroughly  in- 
structed in  the  law  of  Moses.  The  Feast  of  Tabernacles, 
Avhich  had  been  neglected  since  the  days  of  Jeshua,  was 
now  celebrated  with  great  joy ;  and  this  produced,  in  the 
people,  so  devout  a  frame  of  mind,  that  Nehemiah  and 
Ezra,  who  was  still  living,  seized  the  occasion  to  engage 
them  to  enter  into  a  solemn  covenant  to  serve  God  with 
singleness  of  heart,  and  to  obey,  in  all  things,  the  law  of 
Moses.  This  covenant  was  sealed  by  the  principal  heads 
of  families,  who,  on  this  occasion,  represented  the  wjiole 
I>eople. 


THE     RESTORATION.  363 

In  432  A.  C,  at  the  expiration  of  twelve  years,  Nehe- 
miah  returned  to  the  Persian  court;  but,  unfortunately, 
he  left  no  person  behind  him  in  Jerusalem  whose  power 
and  influence  were  sufficient  to  supply  his  place.  The 
consequence  w^as,  that  the  people  soon  began  to  neglect 
the  Divine  law,  and  to  contract  injurious  connections  with 
the  heathen  nations  by  whom  they  were  surrounded.  This 
improper  conduct  was  by  no  means  confined  to  the  inferior 
classes  of  the  people ;  but  extended  to  the  leading  men,  to 
the  priests,  and  even  to  the  high-priest.  Intelligence  of 
these  proceedings  at  length  reached  Nehemiah  at  the  Per- 
sian court;  and  he  had  no  sooner  received  it,  than  he 
resolved  to  return  to  Jerusalem.  On  his  arrival,  he  ob- 
served that  the  evil  had  been  carried  to  a  much  greater 
extent  than  he  had  anticipated ;  and  he  at  once  applied  a 
vigorous  and  unsparing  hand  to  produce  a  reformation  in 
this,  as  well  as  in  other  violations  of  the  law.  The  Jews 
who  had  married  heathen  wives  were  compelled  to  part 
with  them ;  the  observance  of  the  Sabbath  was  enforced ; 
an  illegal  usury,  which  had  at  that  time  become  very  pre- 
valent, and  had  been  the  means  of  bringing  great  numbers 
of  the  poor  under  personal  servitude  to  the  rich,  was  en- 
tirely abolished. 

With  these  reformations  of  Nehemiah,  the  history  of 
the  Old  Testament,  properly  speaking,  closes ;  though 
Nehemiah  himself  continued  to  govern  Judaea  until  his 
death,  which  occurred  about  409  A.  C.  Such  farther  in- 
formation as  we  possess  concerning  the  Ancient  Hebrews, 
is  derived  from  the  Books  of  the  Maccabees,  and  from  the 
historians  Josephus  and  Philo. 


364  THE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS 


SECTION    III. 

,>UD^A  part  of  the  Province  of  Syria— Joiada  High-priest— Importance 
of  the  Priestly  Office— General  Prosperity  of  the  Jews  under  the 
Persian  Government — Persian  Empire  subverted  by  Alexander  the 
Great  during  the  High-priesthood  of  Jaddua — Continuous  and  vio- 
lent Contentions  between  the  Syrians  and  the  Egyptians,  for  the 
Possession  of  Judaea— Oppression  of  the  Jews  by  Antiochus. 

JuDJEA  ceased,  after  the  death  of  Nehemiah,  to  form  a 
distinct  government,  and  was  thenceforth,  during  the  ex- 
istence of  the  Persian  empire,  regarded  as  a  part  of  the 
province  of  Syria.  The  internal  government  was  admin- 
istered by  the  high-priest,  who  now  received  his  appoint- 
ment from  the  Syrian  satrap ;  and  as,  by  this  arrangement, 
the  civil  and  pontifical  governments  were  united  in  the  same 
person,  the  office  was  ambitiously  sought  by  the  different 
members  of  the  sacerdotal  family,  and  frequently  caused 
the  most  disgraceful  contests  among  them.  At  this  time 
Jeshua,  Joachin,  and  Eliashib  had  filled  the  office  of  high- 
priest  since  the  return  of  the  Jews  from  their  captivity ; 
and  at  the  death  of  the  last,  in  413  A.  C,  his  son  Joiada 
succeeded  to  the  pontificate,  and  held  the  office  until  his 
death,  which  occurred  in  373  A.  C. 

During  all  this  period  the  Jews  remained  quiet  under 
the  Persian  government,  and  faithful  in  their  attachment 
to  it ;  and  nothing  of  importance  in  their  history  occurred, 
until  the  death  of  Joiada,  which  happened  in  the  thirty- 
first  year  of  the  reign  of  Artaxerxes  Mnemon,  and  while 
Bagoses  was  satrap  of  Syria.  Joiada  was  succeeded  by 
his  son  Johanan,  or  Jehu ;  but  he  had  scarcely  com- 
menced his  administration,  before  Joshua,  another  son  of 
Joiada,  arrived  at  Jerusalem,  and  claimed  the  high-priest- 
hood under  an  appointment  from  Bagoses.  A  violent 
contest  between  the  two  brothers  immediately  followed  in 
the  inner  court  of  the  Temple,  the  result  of  which  was, 


THE     RESTORATION.  365 

that  Joshua  was  slain  in  that  sacred  place.  As  soon  as 
Bagoses  heard  of  this  disgraceful  outrage,  he  repaired  to 
Jerusalem ;  and  after  sternly  rebuking  the  Jews  for  thus 
impiously  defiling  the  Temple  of  their  God,  he  imposed 
upon  them,  as  a  punishment,  a  heavy  tax  upon  the  lambs 
offered  in  sacrifice.  This  tax  was  not  remitted  until  after 
the  death  of  Artaxerxes,  when  Bagoses  was  succeeded  in 
the  government  of  Syria,  and  the  exaction  ceased  to  be 
enforced. 

In  a  revolt  of  the  Phoenicians,  which  occurred  in  the 
early  part  of  the  reign  of  Ochus,  the  successor  of  Arta- 
xerxes, the  Jews  appear  to  have  been  involved ;  for,  after 
the  reduction  of  Sidon,  the  king  marched  his  army  against 
Jericho,  took  the  city,  and  sent  the  inhabitants  into  exile. 
Johanan,  the  high-priest,  died  in  the  eighteenth  year  of 
the  reign  of  Ochus,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Jaddua, 
a  just  and  virtuous  pontiff,  who  resolved  to  sustain  the 
reformations  of  Xehemiah.  With  this  view  he  expelled 
his  own  brother  Manasses  from  Jerusalem,  for  having 
married  the  daughter  of  Sanballat,  the  governor  of  Sama- 
ria. Manasses  immediately  repaired  to  the  court  of  his 
father-in-law ;  and  his  presence  there,  as  a  member  of  the 
pontifical  family,  induced  the  Samarians,  who  were  not 
allowed  access  to  the  Temple  of  Jerusalem,  to  resolve 
upon  having  a  temple  for  themselves.  Sanballat,  accord- 
ingly, obtained  from  Darius  Codomanus  permission  to 
build  a  temple  for  them  on  Mount  Gerizim,  and  Manasses 
became  their  high-priest.  This  measure  greatly  widened 
the  breach  that  already  existed  between  the  Jews  and  the 
Samaritans,  each  party  contending  for  the  exclusive  claims 
of  its  own  temple.  The  Jews  insisted  that  sacrifices 
ought  to  be  offered  only  at  Jerusalem,  where  the  original 
Temple  had  stood  ;  while  the  Samaritans  affirmed  that 
Mount  Gerizim  was   the  true  place  of  sacrifice,  because 


36G  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

Joshua  had  there  built  the  jBrst  altar.  This  controversy 
only  increased  with  time,  and  eventually  produced  that 
mortal  antipathy  between  the  two  nations,  so  often  alluded 
to  in  the  New  Testament. 

In  332  A.  C,  during  the  high-priesthood  of  Jaddua, 
the  great  event  occurred  which  had  been  foreseen  in  the 
visions  of  the  prophet  Daniel.  The  victory  which  Alex- 
ander the  Great  obtained  over  the  king  of  Persia,  at  Issus, 
was  immediately  followed  by  the  siege  of  Tyre  ;  and  while 
the  conquerer  was  engaged  in  that  important  enterprise, 
he  summoned  the  surrounding  nations  to  render  him  such 
aid  as  he  required  in  prosecuting  the  siege.  The  Jews,  in 
consequence  of  their  allegiance  to  the  king  of  Persia, 
refused  to  obey  this  summons ;  and  this  so  exasperated 
Alexander  that,  as  soon  as  he  had  destroyed  Tyre,  he 
marched  with  his  whole  army  against  Jerusalem.  As  he 
approached  the  city,  Jaddua  the  high-priest,  arrayed  in 
his  pontifical  robes,  and  followed  by  the  whole  priestly 
order,  advanced  to  meet  him,  and  as  he  drew  near,  the 
mighty  conquerer  instantly  recognized,  in  his  person,  the 
image  that  had  appeared  to  him  at  Pella,  in  a  dream,  and 
invited  him  to  come  over  to  the  conquest  of  the  Persian 
empire.  Awed  by  the  imposing  presence  of  the  august 
train,  and  regarding  the  high-priest  as  the  immediate 
representative  of  the  Deity  himself,  Alexander  at  once 
bowed  before  Jaddua  with  the  most  profound  reverence ; 
after  which  he  was  conducted  by  the  pontiff  to  the  Tem- 
ple, and  shown  those  prophecies  of  Daniel  in  which  his 
life  and  victories  were  so  plainly  foretold.  Elated  with 
this  confirmation  of  his  destiny  from  so  high  a  source, 
Alexander  confirmed  the  Jews  in  the  undisturbed  enjoy- 
ment of  their  national  laws,  including  even  their  exemp- 
tion from  tribute  every  seventh  year. 

After  the  death  of  Alexander,  the  vast  empire  which  he 


THE     RESTORATION.  367 

had  acquired  was  divided  among  his  generals ;  and  Judasa 
being  situated  between  Egypt  and  Syria,  was  necessarily 
involved  in  tlie  bitter  contests  in  which  the  conquerer's 
successors  w^ere  soon  after  engaged.  In  the  first  division 
of  the  empire,  Syria,  including  Palestine,  fell  to  the  lot 
of  Laomedon,  and  Egypt  to  Ptolemy  Lagus.  Between 
these  two  princes  a  war  soon  after  broke  out,  and  the 
former  was  defeated  by  Nicanor,  one  of  Ptolemy's  gene- 
rals. The  consequence  of  this  defeat  was  the  submission 
of  all  the  provinces  of  Laomedon  to  Ptolemy ;  but  the  Jews, 
refusing  to  yield  to  the  conquerer,  Ptolemy  himself  invaded 
Jadcea  and  besieged  Jerusalem.  Knowing  that  the  Jews, 
through  religious  veneration  for  their  Sabbath,  would  not,  on 
that  sacred  day,  resist  an  attack,  he  assailed  Jerusalem  on 
the  Sabbath  morning,  and  before  evening  the  whole  city  was 
in  his  hands.  He  did  not,  however,  treat  the  Jews  with 
severity ;  and  though  he  sent  large  numbers  of  them  into 
Egypt,  it  was  rather  as  colonists  than  as  prisoners.  These 
exiles  there  found  many  other  of  their  countrymen  who 
had  be  n  removed  thither  by  Alexander  the  Great,  to  help 
to  people  his  new  city  of  Alexandria.  To  them  the  same 
privileges  were  extended  that  the  Greek  inhabitants  them- 
selves enjoyed;  and  as  these  privileges  were  afterwards 
confirmed  by  Ptolemy,  many  others  went  to  Egypt  of 
their  own  accord.  Eight  years  after  Ptolemy  transported 
a  large  body  of  Jews  to  Lybia  and  Gyrene ;  and  by  such 
means,  and  the  voluntary  removals  of  many  of  them,  who 
sought,  under  the  shadow  of  the  Egyptian  throne,  the 
peace  w^hich  they  could  not  find  in  their  own  country, 
Egypt  soon  became  an  important  seat  of  Jewish  popula- 
tion. 

Judaea  was  eventually  wrested  from  Ptolemy  Lagus  by 
Antigonus,  one  of  the  most  ambitious  and  restless  of  all 
the  generals  that  shared  Alexander's  empire.     But  after 


3G8  THE     ANCEENT     HEBREWS. 

the  battle  of  Ipsus — fatal  both  to  the  life  and  cause  of 
Antigonus — Ptolemy  quietly  recovered  Judrea ;  and  by  the 
wisdom  and  justice  of  his  government,  he  promoted  the 
prosperity  and  gained  the  affections  of  the  Jewish  people. 
During  his  reign  Simon  the  Just,  an  excellent  high-priest, 
repaired  the  city  and  Temple  of  Jerusalem,  and  provided 
both  with  strong  and  lofty  walls :  he  also  completed  the 
canon  of  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures  by  adding  the 
books  of  Ezra,  Nehemiah,  Esther,  First  and  Second 
Chronicles,  and  the  prophecies  of  Malachi.  His  death 
occurred  in  291  A.  C,  after  faithfully  administering  the 
duties  of  his  office  nine  years. 

While  these  events  were  passing  in  Judaea  and  the 
vicinity,  Seleucus  was  rearing  a  powder  in  Asia  far  sur- 
passing any  other  that  had  arisen  out  of  the  ruins  of 
Alexander's  empire.  Aware,  like  Ptolemy,  of  the  value 
of  the  Jews  as  good  and  faithful  citizens,  Seleucus  endea- 
vored to  attract  them  to  the  cities  which  belonged  to  him 
in  Asia  Minor,  by  offering  tliem  the  same  privileges  which 
their  countrymen  enjoyed  under  Ptolemy  in  Egypt.  Many 
Jews  were  drawn  thither  by  these  offers ;  and  hence,  in 
later  periods,  we  find  them  almost  as  numerous  in  Asia 
Minor  as  they  were  in  Egypt.  When  Ptolemy  Philadel- 
phus,  in  285  A.  C,  succeeded  to  the  Egyptian  throne,  he 
confirmed  to  the  Jews  all  their  former  privileges.  Ptolemy 
was  a  great  jiatron  of  learning,  and  spared  no  pains  or  cost 
to  procure,  for  his  famous  library  at  Alexandria,  the  most 
curious  and  valuable  books  that  could  be  obtained.  The 
most  important  of  the  literary  acquisitions  thus  brought 
to  Alexandria,  was  the  Hebrew  Scriptures,  which  this  king 
caused  to  be  translated  from  the  original  language  into 
the  Greek.  This  important  translation  was  performed  by 
seventy-two  of  the  most  learned  Jews  of  that  age,  and  it 
is  hence  called  the  Sepimgini.     The  date  to  which  the 


THE     RESTORATION.  369 

performance  is  to  be  referred,  is  278  A.  C. ;  and,  that  thfl 
original  also  might  be  preserved,  Eleazer,  the  high-priest, 
son  of  Simon  the  Just,  caused,  at  the  same  time,  a  correct 
copy  of  it  to  be  prepared  and  made  a  special  deposit  in 
the  Temple. 

Ptolemy  Euergetes,  who  next  ascended  the  throne  of 
Egypt,  greatly  extended  the  privileges  of  the  Jews,  and 
testified  his  respect  for  their  God,  by  offering  many  victims 
in  sacrifice  at  Jerusalem;  but  in  the  reign  of  Ptolemy 
Philopator,  his  successor,  the  peace  which  the  Jews  had  so 
long  enjoyed  under  the  Egyptian  kings,  began  to  be  seriously 
disturbed.  This  disturbance  arose  out  of  the  anxiety  and 
efforts  of  Antiochus  the  Great,  king  of  Syria,  to  annex  to 
his  own  dominions  the  province  of  Palestine.  The  eff"orts 
of  the  Syrian  king  were  for  a  time  partially  successful ; 
but  he  was  at  length  totally  defeated  by  Philopator,  and 
the  victor  immediately  repaired  to  Jerusalem,  and  offered 
numerous  sacrifices  to  the  God  of  the  Jews,  in  acknow- 
ledgment of  his  victory.  The  beauty  and  richness  of  the 
Temple  so  particularly  attracted  his  attention,  that  he  ex- 
pressed a  strong  desire  to  view  the  interior  of  the  building  ; 
but  this  was  resisted  by  the  high-priest,  who  informed  him 
that  it  was  unlawful  even  for  the  priests,  under  any  cir- 
cumstances, to  enter  the  inner  sanctuary.  This  only 
increased  the  king's  curiosity,  and  he,  therefore,  persisted 
in  his  purpose ;  but  as  he  was  crossing  the  inner  court  to 
enter  the  sacred  place,  he  fell  speechless  to  the  ground. 
Not  understanding  that  this  visitation  was  from  the  Al- 
mighty, the  circumstance  filled  the  king  with  resentment 
against  the  whole  Jewish  people  ;  and  he,  therefore,  on  his 
return  to  Egypt,  bitterly  persecuted  all  those  who  were 
settled  in  that  country.  He  deprived  them  of  the  pecu- 
liar privileges  they  had  hitherto  enjoyed,  em-olled  them 
with  the  lowest  class  of  native  Egyptians,  and  even  con- 
16* 


370  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

signed  many  of  them  to  slavery  and  to  death.  He  even 
contemplated  the  extirpation  of  the  whole  Jewish  race; 
and  beginning  with  those  who  dwelt  in  Egypt,  he  caused 
a  large  number  of  them  to  be  brought  together  in  Alexan- 
dria, with  the  view  of  having  them  destroyed  by  elephants 
in  the  hippodrome.  A  vast  multitude  of  people,  including 
the  king  and  his  court,  assembled  to  view  the  horrid  spec- 
tacle ;  but  the  elephants,  instead  of  killing  the  victims  ex- 
posed to  their  rage,  turned  upon  the  spectators,  of  whom 
they  destroyed  great  numbers,  while  the  Jews  remained 
entirely  unharmed.  This  extraordinary  event  was  at  once 
recognized  as  an  interposition  of  the  Almighty  in  their 
behalf;  and  Philopator,  therefore,  desisted  from  his  de- 
sign, and  restored  the  Jews  to  their  former  position. 

On  the  death  of  Philopator,  in  205  A.  C,  the  crown  of 
Egypt  fell  to  Ptolemy  Epiphanes,  then  a  child  only  five 
years  of  age.  Taking  advantage  of  the  infancy  of  the  new 
king,  Antiochus  the  Great,  who  had  meantime  greatly  ex- 
tended his  authority  and  power  in  the  East,  returned  to 
the  West,  and  resolved  to  make  a  fresh  attempt  to  wrest 
the  Syrian  provinces  from  the  Egyptian  crown.  In 
this  attempt  he  was  entirely  successful ;  and  the  Jews 
readily  submitted  to  his  authority.  For  this  willing  sub- 
mission, when  we  remember  their  general  attachment  to 
Egypt,  we  can  only  account  by  regarding  it  as  an  ex^^res- 
sion  of  their  resentment  of  the  treatment  of  Philopator, 
and  of  their  satisfaction  of  the  kindness  and  liberality  of 
Antiochus  to  the  numerous  Jews  who  were  settled  in  his 
dominions,  on  both  sides  of  the  Euphrates.  Antiochus 
was  much  gratified  by  the  proofs  of  attachment  which  he 
thus  received ;  and  when  he  visited  Jerusalem,  in  198  A.  C, 
he  conferred  on  the  city  such  favors  as  he  knew  were  best 
calculated  to  win  the  hearts  of  the  inhabitants.  He  pro- 
mised to  restore  the  city  to  its  ancient  splendor,  and  to 


THE     RESTORATION.  371 

repair  the  Temple  at  his  own  expense :  he  made  provisioc 
for  the  regular  performance  of  the  sacred  services,  and  pro- 
tected the  Temple  from  the  intrusion  of  strangers.  The 
extension  of  these  favors  to  the  Jews,  with  the  confirmation 
of  their  political  privileges,  plainly  indicated  that  Antio- 
chus  well  understood  the  character  of  that  remarkable 
people. 

Seleucus,  who  succeeded  Antiochus  in  187  A.  C,  was 
as  well  disposed  towards  the  Jews  as  his  predecessor  had 
been ;  and  immediately  after  his  accession  to  the  throne, 
he  gave  orders  that  the  expenses  of  the  public  worship 
should  continue  to  be  defrayed  out  of  his  own  treasury. 
An  unhappy  altercation,  however,  between  Onias,  the  high- 
priest,  and  Simon,  the  governor  of  the  Temple,  entirely 
changed  the  aspect  of  affairs.  The  latter  sent  to  the  king 
a  very  exaggerated  account  of  the  wealth  contained  in  the 
Temple  ;  and  Seleucus,  being  in  pressing  want  of  money, 
resolved  to  appropriate  all  this  treasure  to  himself.  He, 
therefore,  sent  Heliodorus,  his  treasurer,  to  take  possession 
of  it,  and  bring  it  to  Antioch.  But  when  he  arrived  at 
Jerusalem,  Onias  endeavored  to  dissuade  him  from  his 
purpose,  assuring  him  that  the  amount  was  very  incon- 
siderable, and  that  it  was  devoted  to  charitable  purposes. 
Heliodorus,  however,  persisted  in  the  purpose  of  executing 
his  commission  ;  but  as  he  attempted  to  enter  the  Temple, 
he  was  terrified  by  an  awful  vision,  and  immediately  with- 
drew, not  only  from  the  Temple,  but  from  the  city  also, 
declaring  the  place  to  be  under  the  protection  of  a  super- 
natural and  invisible  power.  The  high-priest  soon  followed 
him  to  Antioch,  and  there  represented  to  the  king  the 
misconduct  of  Simon  in  so  unfavorable  a  light,  that  he 
procured  his  banishment  from  Jerusalem,  and  by  that 
means  restored  peace  to  the  city. 

Seleucus  Philopator  was  succeeded  by  his  brother  Antio- 


372  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

cbus  Epiphanes,  in  175  A.  C.  The  Jews  had  now  been 
subjects  to  the  Greek  raonarchs  of  Egypt  and  Syria  nearly 
a  hundred  and  fifty  years  ;  and  during  that  time,  they  had 
become  familiar  with  the  customs,  the  literature,  and  the 
philosophy  of  the  Greeks.  The  less  religious  of  them  pre- 
ferred the  manners  of  that  people  to  their  own,  and  Avere 
even  willing  to  abandon  for  theirs,  the  distinctive  peculiari- 
ties of  the  Jewish  faith  and  practice.  Among  this  number 
was  Jason,  the  brother  of  the  high-priest,  Onias.  To  com- 
pass this  purpose,  he  bribed  Epiphanes  to  bestow  upon  him 
the  high-priesthood ;  and  Onias  was,  accordingly,  called  to 
Antioch,  and  there  kept  in  honorable  exile.  The  party 
which  sustained  Jason  was  very  considerable ;  for  among 
the  educated  classes  there  was  a  strong  inclination  towards 
Grecian  customs ;  and  besides,  Jason  was  empowered  to 
bestow  the  citizenship  of  Antioch,  which  was  a  distinction 
earnestly  sought. 

Jason  was  no  sooner  seated  in  authority,  than  he  estab- 
lished at  Jerusalem  a  gymnasium  for  athletic  exercises, 
and  the  games  soon  became  so  popular,  that  even  the 
priests  neglected  the  services  of  the  Temple  to  be  present 
at  them.  He  also  caused  an  academy  to  be  opened,  in 
which  the  Hebrew  youth  might  be  instructed  after  the 
manner  of  the  Greeks;  and  he  farther  used  every  influ- 
ence in  his  power  to  encourage  the  adoption  of  the  Greek 
customs  and  habits,  not  only  of  external  life,  but  even  of 
actions  and  thought.  His  own  adherents  were  not,  how- 
ever, prepared  to  carry  these  innovations  to  the  extent  to 
which  he  desired ;  and  when  he  sent  some  young  men  to 
Tyre,  therefore,  to  assist  at  the  games  celebrated  in  that 
city  in  honor  of  the  Tyrian  Hercules,  and  entrusted  them 
with  large  sums  of  money  to  expend  in  sacrifice  to  that 
idol,  they  chose  rather  to  appropriate  the  money  to  pur- 
poses of  ship-building. 


THE     RESTORATION.  373 

Jason  did  not,  however,  long  enjoy  liis  ill-gotten  dig- 
nity;  for,  in  172  A.  C,  less  than  three  years  after  he 
obtained  the  high-priesthood,  he  was  supplanted  by  his 
younger  brother  Menelaus,  who  offered  the  king  three 
hundred  talents  more  for  that  dignity  than  Jason  had 
given.  The  wickedness  of  Menelaus  surpassed  even  that 
of  his  brother ;  for  one  of  his  first  acts,  after  he  assumed 
the  duties  of  his  office,  was  to  abstract  some  golden  vessels 
from  the  Temple,  and  send  them  secretly  to  Tyre  for  sale. 
The  secret,  however,  transpired,  and  produced  great  excite- 
ment, particularly  among  the  Jews  of  Antioch,  who  were 
both  numerous  and  powerful.  The  exiled  high-priest,  the 
venerable  Onias,  especially,  took  such  notice  of  the  affair 
as  to  give  great  oftense  to  Menelaus ;  and  he,  therefore, 
prevailed  upon  Andronicus,  the  king's  deputy  at  Antioch, 
to  put  him  to  death. 

Antiochus  soon  after  engaged  in  a  war  with  Egypt. 
He  twice  invaded  that  country  with  success ;  but  the  ab- 
sence of  his  forces  from  Palestine,  and  a  rumor  of  his  death, 
encouraged  the  exiled  Jason  to  attempt  the  recovery  of  his 
lost  power.  With  a  body  of  one  thousand  men,  assisted  by 
adherents  within  the  city,  he  surprised  Jerusalem,  and  treated 
with  great  severity  the  adherents  of  Menelaus,  who  himself 
sought  refuge  in  the  castle.  The  return  of  Antiochus  from 
Egypt,  however,  compelled  him  to  relinquish  his  power  and 
abandon  the  city ;  and  after  wandering  for  some  time  from 
place  to  place,  he  at  length  miserably  perished  in  Lacedse- 
monia. 

Antiochus  was  so  incensed  at  the  satisfaction  which  the 
report  of  his  death  afforded  the  Jews,  that  he  resolved  to 
treat  the  affair  as  a  revolt,  and  to  punish  it  accordingly. 
With  this  view  he  abandoned  Jerusalem  to  the  fury  of  his 
soldiers  for  three  days,  during  which  four  thousand  of  the 
inhabitants  were  put  to  death,  and  nearly  an  equal  numbei 


374  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

sold  into  slavery.  The  king,  conducted  by  the  impious 
Menelaus,  then  entered  the  Temple,  and  plundered  it  of 
all  its  treasures,  vessels,  and  golden  ornaments,  carrying 
away  with  him  eighteen  hundred  talents  of  gold  and  silver 
to  Antioch.  Farther  to  outrage  the  feelings  of  the  Jews, 
and  to  insult  tlieir  God,  he  sacrificed,  before  he  left  the 
city,  a  large  hog  upon  the  altar  of  burnt-offerings,  and 
then  left  Menelaus  in  the  high-priesthood. 

The  king  of  Egypt  had,  meantime,  formed  an  alliance 
with  the  distant  Eomans  ;  and  when  Antiochus,  therefore, 
attempted  another  invasion  of  that  country,  he  was  met  by 
the  Eoman  ambassador,  who,  in  the  name  of  the  Senate, 
commanded  him  to  desist  from  his  enterprise  ;  and,  draw- 
ing a  circle  around  him  in  the  sand,  forbade  him  to  step 
without  it,  until  he  had  decided  between  the  friendship  and 
the  enmity  of  Eome.  The  unprincipled  tyrant  was  com- 
pelled to  abandon  his  enterprise,  and,  burning  with  a 
sense  of  his  disgrace,  he  failed  not,  on  his  return,  to 
wreak  his  vengeance  on  the  unoffending  Jews.  For  this 
purpose  he  sent  Apollonius,  one  of  his  generals,  against 
Jerusalem,  with  an  army  of  twenty-two  thousand  men,  with 
strict  orders  to  destroy  the  city,  massacre  the  male  inhabit- 
ants, and  sell  the  women  and  children  into  slavery.  Apol- 
lonius entered  the  city  without  opposition,  and  gave  no 
indication  of  his  intentions  until  the  return  of  the  Sabbath. 
On  that  sacred  day,  while  the  people  were  engaged  in  the 
solemn  worship  of  the  Most  High,  he  executed  his  dreadful 
commission  with  unrelenting  cruelty.  After  having  slain 
great  multitudes  of  the  people,  and  sent  away  ten  thousand 
into  captivity,  he  plundered  the  city,  then  set  it  on  fire,  and 
demolished  the  walls.  The  Temple  was  permitted  to  stand, 
but  its  service  was  altogether  abandoned  ;  for  it  was  com- 
manded by  a  fortress  which  the  Syrians  erected,  and  from 
whicli  the  soldiers  assaulted  all  who  went  there  to  wor- 


THE     RESTORATION.  375 

ship.  Thus,  on  the  ninth  of  June,  1G8  A.  C,  the  daily 
sacrifices  of  the  Temple  ceased,  and  the  city  of  Jerusalem 
was  deserted. 

Not  satisfied  with  the  severe  punishment  thus  inflicted 
upon  the  Jews,  Antiochus  next  issued  a  decree,  that  the 
Grecian  idolatry  should  be  established  throughout  his  vast 
dominions.  This  decree  had  special  reference  to  the  Jews, 
and  so  rigidly  was  it  enforced,  that  death  was  the  penalty 
of  disobedience.  The  Temple  of  Jerusalem  was  dedicated 
to  Jupiter  Olympius,  his  statue  placed  in  the  court,  and 
sacrifices  regulaily  ofi^red  to  him.  Such  of  the  Jews  as 
refused  to  share  in  this  worship,  or  to  evince  their  conform- 
ity to  it  by  eating  swine's  flesh,  were  cruelly  massacred,  or 
subjected  to  the  Ynost  exquisite  tortures.  Notwithstanding 
these  severities,  Antiochus  had  the  mortification  to  see  that 
his  decree  was  much  less  eftective  than  he  had  anticipated ; 
and  he,  therefore,  issued  another  decree,  forbidding,  under 
pain  of  death,  the  worship  of  Jehovah,  and  the  observances 
of  the  Sabbath  and  other  distinctive  requirements  of  the 
Mosaic  law.  He  even  went  so  far  as  to  endeavor  to  ex- 
tinguish the  law  itself,  by  forbidding  it  to  be  read,  and 
commanding  every  copy  to  be  given  up  under  pain  of 
death.  Under  these  trying  circumstances,  many  aposta- 
tised from  the  faith,  but  many  more  were  found  faithful 
unto  death,  while  others  went  forth  to  wander  in  deserts 
and  in  mountains,  in  dens  and  in  caves  of  the  earth,  sub- 
sisting on  such  herbs  and  roots  as  they  could  find  in  these 
solitary  placss.  It  was  on  this  occasion  that  the  venerable 
Eleazer,  though  in  the  ninetieth  year  of  his  age,  was  put 
to  the  most  excruciating  tortures  and  death,  for  refusing 
to  eat  the  forbidden  swine's  flesh. 

The  reading  of  the  law  by  the  Jews  in  their  synagogues 
being  forbidden  by  the  last  decree  of  Antiochus,  they  now 
began  to  read  lessons  from  the  prophets  instead;  and  when 


876  THE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

afterwards  they  resumed  tlie  reading  of  the  law,  they  did 
not  cease  to  read  the  prophets  also  ;  and  from  this  circum- 
stance arose  the  subsequent  use,  in  their  synagogues,  of 
both  the  books  of  the  law  and  those  of  the  prophets.  The 
synagogue  itself  originated  with  the  Babylonian  captivity, 
and  the  destruction  of  the  Temple.  The  Jews,  after  they 
became  settled  in  the  land  of  their  exile,  without  a  Temple 
for  Divine  service,  resolved,  as  a  substitute,  to  erect  par- 
ticular buildings,  in  which  they  might  be  instructed  in  the 
law,  and  might  worship  the  God  of  their  fathers  on  the 
Sabbath  day.  These  buildings,  or  synagogues,  were  always 
placed  upon  an  elevated  spot,  sometimes  within  and  some 
times  without  the  city,  and  vvere  similar  in  their  construc- 
tion and  arrangements  to  our  modern  churches.  They 
were  soon  found  in  every  part  of  the  country  in  which  the 
exiles  dwelt,  and  were  so  convenient  that,  after  the  Eesto- 
ration,  and  the  rebuilding  of  the  Temple,  they  could  not 
be  dispensed  with.  In  our  Saviour's  time,  synagogues 
had  become  so  numerous,  that  every  town  in  Judaea  had 
one  or  more  of  them :  Tiberias,  a  city  of  Galilee,  contain- 
ed twelve  of  them ;  and  in  Jerusalem  there  were  no  le.s- 
than  four  hundred  and  eighty. 


536.              VII.    PERSIAN    PERIOD.             331. 

THE  WEST. 

THE  HEBREWS  IN  PERSIA.  1 

i                                                             1 

THE  EAST. 

IS3. 

Thespis  (Trag.) 

RETT]  UN  FROM  CAPTIYITY. 

Edict  of  Cyrus. 

536 

"^) 

[ 

?3 
X 

g  g  >J536.  Zerubbabel    dr 

a&.q'  with  other  Jews   ^"^3 

w 

;  > 
j' 

Joy    salem.                   jr^p^ 

3  D-p    Second  Temple?^"' ts 
0  c.g^      begun  (535).       ^d  p 

i  c  , 

1'! 

525.EschyIus(b.525).|7| 

l^i 

Egypt  conquered 

by  Canibyses 

(525)- 

525 

Pindar  (b.  518). 
Pythagoras 

(d.  510). 
Brutus  and 

1 

•    *ll|_,        Samaritans        ^  »  "^ 
(^^    oppose  Haggai  5?  aqg" 

JS)  ^  d       Zechariah.        ^'^.  3 
2  5'  516.   Dedication   ^^^tS 
^W         of  second         --^■ 
0.^5         temple.         5o-   (t» 

5-^                           S^^'o 

X 

p 

Roman  Republic 

' — ( 

500 

(509). 
Sophocles  (b.  495). 

* 
1 

;m 

1  K 

lb?'. 

Persian  Wars 

(500-449). 
First  War  (492). 
Second  War  (490). 

500 

Herodotus  and 

^ 

f  Pei 

the  c 
nquesi 

Dpe, 
,  Ass 

1 

Xerxes  (485). 

Euripides  (b.  484). 

fe^ 

1     ; 

Third  War  (480). 
Fourth  War  (478). 

475 

^B-)                         1^0^ 

n 

475 

Thucydides 

"s 

2.^5     Ezra  leads  a     50^  5' 

'^ 

(b.  471.) 

^  p?;  large  number  oi'('2^  ^ 
^B?        Jews  to         )k'^% 
W'S.?      Jerusalem.      [^^'^ 

!  X 

Eurymedon  (466). 

Phidias. 

i'l 

il 

Artaxerxes  (465). 

PERICLES. 

1  1 

cr^^j         Esther.         r.^| 

!^' 

450 

The  Decemviri. 

^ 

^§S   Nehemiah  re-  ("S'g. 

s^ 

450 

Aristophanes  and 
Xenophon(b.444). 

1 

73 

11        (444)        |fa 

1 

Polygnotus. 

3 

-   -.  builds  the  walls  j-   §^ 
Wob    of  Jerusalem.    5^-0 

Plato  (b.  428). 

2 

j>! 

425 

Scopas. 

"1 

1?           '?i 

1  '  ' 

Xerxes  II.  (425). 

42s 

^ 

^?                  -s" 

is 

Sogdianus. 

Zeuxis. 

1  ^ 

-   ^j        Death  of       jSia„ 

^' 

Darius  II.  (424). 

iEgospotami 
(405). 

5 

^  D  3  Nehemiah  (415).  ^  -•  S  3 

|S<    From  this  time  j     g-"^. 
M-^Jan    almost    im-^     g" 
2.^    penetrable  dark-       g.| 

1  "<- 

Cyrus  (Younger). 
Artaxerxes  II. 

(405)- 

400 

Socrates  (d.  401). 

1 

^ 

Cunaxa  (bat.  401). 

400 

Rome  burnt  (390). 

s 

The  10,000  Greeks 

. 

Demosthenes 
(b.  385). 

t 

-   3")  ness    pervades  s     s 
^       the    history    of?    ^  S 
^2:  the     Hebrews,  <     3  2 

Antalcidas  (387). 

Aristotle  (b.  384). 

X 

1 

375 

Epaminondas. 
Leuctra  (371). 

> 

1^^  till     the     reign      cTg- 

M-as     of      AnTIOCHUSC       5^ 

■  o 

,  2 

Artaxerxes  III. 

(361). 

375 

Mantinea  (362), 
Xenophon(d.355). 

2 

J^  g^   Epiphanes  (175  b     O-v- 

>  ■ 

Temple  of  Diana 
burnt. 

350 

Plato  (d.  347). 

!  H 
IK 

0)  '^                                \     -^ 
P  D  Alexander  visits )     "■  8 

5=   (333)    rl 

2 

Destruction  of 
Sidon  (351). 

350 

Epicurus  (b.  342). 

^ 

'.  >  1 

'  C  i 

Arces  (338). 

Chaeronea  (338). 

\^ 

i  D 

Darius  III.  (336). 

331 

Thebes  taken  by 
Alexander  (,335). 

P 

0  0-       Jerusalem.           ^- 

P 

Issus  (bat.  333). 

End  of  Persian 
Empire  (331). 

331 



BATTLE  OF  ARBELA,  331  B.C. 

CHAPTER     THE     EIGHTH 
THE  ASAMONEANS. 

SECTION  I. 

The  AsAMONEANS— Resolution  to  throw  off  the  Syrian  Yoke— Opera- 
tions of  Mattathias,  Father  of  the  Family— His  Death— Succeeded 
in  command  by  his  son  Judas — Success  of  Judas— His  Alliance  with 
the  Romans— The  Consequences  of  his  Death— Succeeded  by  his 
Brother  Jonathan— Offices  of  High-priest  and  Prince  united  in  his 
Person— His  Tragical  Death— Succeeded  by  his  Brother  Simon. 

After  the  relentless  persecntion  of  the  Jews  by  Antio- 
chus  had  raged  for  six  months,  God  brought  about  their 
deliverance  through  the  noble  family  of  the  Asamoneans, 
Mattathias  and  his  sons,  generally  known  as  the  Macca- 
bees. Asamoneas,  from  whom  the  family  derived  its  name, 
was  the  great-grandfather  of  Mattathias,  of  the  lineage  of 
Phineas,  the  son  of  Eleazer,  the  eldest  branch  of  the 
family  of  Aaron. 

Mattathias  was  a  man  of  great  influence  in  Modin,  his 
native  city ;  and  for  this  reason,  Apelles,  the  king's  com- 
missioner at  that  place,  was  very  anxious  that  he  should 
there  set  the  example  of  compliance  with  the  king's  man- 
date. He,  therefore,  offered  to  advance  him  to  great  power 
and  riches  if  he  would  forsake  the  law  of  his  God,  and  do 
homage  to  the  Grecian  idols.  But  Mattathias  repelled,  with 
indignation,  the  inducements  to  apostasy  held  out  by  the 
commissioner;  and  in  a  transport  of  holy  zeal,  he  ran  and 
smote  down  a  Jew  who  was  at  that  moment  advancing  to 
oflfer  sacrifice  at  the  idol  altar.  This  bold  act  drew  the 
sword  which  was  not  again  to  be  sheathed  till  Israel  should 
be  free.    Animated  by  the  same  noble  impulse,  the  sons  of 


378  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

Mattiithias,  and  a  few  otlier  congenial  spirits,  immediately 
united  with  him,  attacked  and  slew  the  commissioner  and 
his  attendants,  and  then  jjassing  through  the  city,  called 
upon  all  who  were  zealous  for  the  law  of  God  to  follow 
them.  The  number  that  rallied  round  Mattathias,  though 
very  considerable,  was  not  sufficiently  large  to  meet  the 
enemy ;  and  they  all,  therefore,  withdrew  to  the  wilder- 
ness, whither  they  were  soon  followed  by  the  king's  troops  ; 
and  being  attacked  on  the  Sabbath  day,  many  of  them 
suffered  themselves  to  be  slain  without  oftering  the  least 
resistance.  Mattathias  at  once  saw  the  fatal  consequences 
of  indulging  the  usual  scruple  of  non-resistance  on  the 
Sabbath ;  and  he,  therefore,  directed  that,  for  the  future, 
they  should  defend  themselves  on  that  day  as  well  as  at 
other  times. 

The  standard  of  revolt  being  now  raised,  ail  who  were 
zealous  for  the  restoration  of  the  liberty  and  the  religion 
of  their  fathers,  flocked  to  it ;  and  Mattathias,  therefore, 
soon  found  his  forces  sufficiently  numerous  to  enable  him 
to  act  on  the  offensive.  They  accordingly  left  their  retreat, 
and  passing,  chiefly  by  night,  through  the  country,  pulled 
down  the  idolatrous  altars,  and  destroyed  their  persecutors 
wherever  they  found  them.  Having  done  this,  they  re- 
opened the  synagogues,  enforced  the  ceremonies  enjoined 
by  the  law,  and  lecovered  many  of  their  sacred  books 
from  heathen  hands.  In  the  midst  of  these  successes 
death  arrested  the  career  of  the  heroic  Mattathias ;  but 
he  left  five  sons,  John,  Simon,  Judas,  Eleazer,  and  Jona- 
than, all  of  whom  were  worthy  of  his  name.  Just  before 
his  death  Mattathias  advised  that  the  judicious  Simon 
should  be  their  counsellor,  and  the  valiant  Judas  their 
military  leader.  From  Judas,  who  was  surnamed  Macca- 
beus, their  name  of  Maccabees  descended ;  and  he  is  sup- 
posed to  have  derived   this  name  from  a  cabalistic  word 


THE     ASAMONEANS.  379 

formed  out  of  M.  C.  B.  J.,  tlie  initial  letters  of  the  words 
Mi  Chamoka  Baalim  Jehovah,  or,  "  Who  is  like  unto  thee 
among  the  gods,  0  Jehovah!"  which  he  bore  upon  his 
standard. 

Judas  soon  displayed  such  extraordinary  talents  as  a 
commander,  that  he  may,  in  many  respects,  be  considered 
as  one  of  the  most  heroic  leaders  that  the  Jewish  nation 
ever  produced.  With  a  force  not  exceeding  six  thousand 
men,  he  boldly  took  the  field  against  the  large  and  well 
disciplined  armies  of  Antiochus ;  and  notwithstanding 
they  were  led  by  commanders  of  the  highest  reputation,  he 
successively  defeated  them  all.  By  the  defeat  of  Apollonius, 
the  Governor  of  Samaria,  he  was  enabled  to  make  himself 
master  of  .some  of  the  principal  towns  and  fortresses  of 
Judaea  ;  and,  after  having  expelled  the  Jews  who  had  turned 
to  idolatry,  from  them,  he  j)laced  them  under  the  control  of 
his  own  faithfid  adherents.  He  then  marched  against  the 
distinguished  general  Seron,  who  had  taken  the  field  with 
a  powerful  army,  in  order  to  suppress  the  revolt  at  once. 
At  the  sight  of  such  vastly  superior  numbers,  the  forces 
of  Judas  were  greatly  alarmed ;  but  the  example  of  their 
heroic  leader  soon  so  inspired  their  courage,  that  they  fell 
upon  the  enemy  with  resistless  fury,  and  gained  a  complete 
victory.  This  victory  spread  the  fame  of  Judas  through- 
out all  the  neighboring  states ;  and  Antiochus  now  saw 
that  the  revolt  required  more  attention  than  he  had  hither- 
to given  to  it.  He,  therefore,  resolved  completely  to  crush 
it  before  it  became  too  formidable  to  be  easily  overcome ; 
and  with  this  view,  he  sent  five  large  armies  into  Judaea, 
under  the  command  of  his  most  skillful  generals.  They 
were  all,  however,  successively  defeated  by  the  valiant 
Maccabeans,  within  the  space  of  a  single  year. 

The  last  of  these  battles  was  with  Lysias,  the  regent  of 
Syria,  whose  army  consisted  of  sixty  thousand  choice  in- 


S80  rUE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

fantry,  and  five  thousand  cavalry.  To  meet  this  formidable 
army,  Judas,  with  unshaken  confidence  in  the  Almighty, 
marched  forth  with  only  ten  thousand  men  ;  and  at  Beth- 
sura,  near  Jerusalem,  he  assailed  them  with  such  vigor, 
that  five  thousand  of  the  Syrians  were  slain  on  the  spot, 
and  the  rest  completely  routed.  Lysias  was  so  astonished 
at  the  desperate  resistance  of  the  Jews,  that  he  immediately 
left  Judsea,  and  returned,  with  the  remnant  of  his  army,  to 
Antioch.  These  important  triumphs  of  Judas  occurred  in 
165  A.  C. 

The  retreat  of  Lysias  left  Judaea  under  the  exclusive  con- 
trol of  Judas  ;  and  having  marched  to  Jerusalem,  he  took 
possession  of  the  city,  wliich  he  found  to  be  little  else 
than  a  heap  of  ruins.  The  Temple,  however,-  was  still 
standing ;  and  after  having  purified  that  sacred  building 
from  every  trace  of  Syrian  idolatry,  he  consecrated  it  anew 
to  the  service  of  God,  and  revived  the  daily  sacrifices  and 
worship,  which  had  been  suspended  during  three  calamitous 
years.  This  important  event  occurred  about  the  time  of 
the  winter  solstice  ;  and  it  was  soon  after  celebrated  by  the 
Jews,  by  a  solemn  feast,  called  the  Feast  of  Dedication. 
All  this  success  did  not,  however,  enable  Judas  to  expel 
from  Jerusalem  the  Syrian  garrison  of  the  fortress  which 
had  been  built  by  ApoUonius  to  overlook  the  Temple; 
and  he,  therefore,  protected  the  latter  by  surrounding  it 
with  high  walls  and  towers,  within  which  he  kept  a  valiant 
and  watchful  force. 

Antiochus  was  at  Ecbatana  when  he  heard  of  the  sad 
overthrow  of  his  armies  in  Judaea,  and  the  intelligence  so 
enraged  him  that  he  at  once  denounced  the  most  horrible 
vengeance,  not  only  upon  the  Jewish  people,  but  even  upon 
the  land  itself.  But  while  he  was  yet  uttering  his  denun- 
ciations, he  was  smitten  by  the  Almighty  with  a  loathsome 
disease,   attended   with  the  most  excruciating  torments. 


THE      ASAMONEANS.  381 

Before  his  death,  which  soon  after  occurred,  he  confessed 
that  he  was  smitten  by  the  hand  of  God,  as  a  punishment 
for  his  persecution  of  the  Jews,  and  the  desecration  of  their 
sacred  Temple.  "I  perceive,  therefore,"  said  he,  "  that  for 
this  cause  these  troubles  came  upon  me;  and,  behold, 
I  perish  through  grief,  in  a  strange  land."  The  death 
of  Antiochus  occurred  the  year  following  the  defeat  of 
Lysias. 

By  the  death  of  Antiochus,  the  Jews  were  delivered  from 
the  most  inveterate  enemy  they  had  ever  had ;  but  Lysias, 
as  regent,  still  carried  on  the  war  against  them,  in  the  name 
of  Antiochus  Eupator,  the  infant  son  and  successor  of  the 
late  king.  The  army  with  which  he  entered  Judaea,  though 
much  larger  than  the  one  at  the  head  of  which  he  had  so 
recently  been  defeated  by  Judas,  was  promptly  met  and 
completely  routed  by  that  hero ;  and  such  was  the  effect  of 
this  disastrous  overthrow  upon  the  mind  of  Lysias,  that  he 
confessed  his  inability  to  contend  with  the  mighty  God  who 
defended  the  Jewish  people ;  and  offered  them  terms  of 
peace  so  reasonable,  that  Judas  and  his  associates  thought 
it  prudent  to  accept  them.  The  peace  was  not,  however, 
of  long  continuance ;  for  the  Syrian  garrison,  in  the  castle 
of  Jerusalem,  still  so  greatly  annoyed  the  Jews  of  that 
city,  that  Judas  resolved,  if  possible,  to  remove  from  the 
capital,  so  serious  a  source  of  evil.  Before  the  attack  was 
made,  the  numerous  apostate  Jews  in  the  castle,  dreading 
the  treatment  that  they  might  expect  from  their  more 
faithful  brethren,  should  they  prove  successful,  secretly 
left  the  place ;  and  hastening  to  Antioch,  they  there  made 
such  representations  to  the  regent  and  the  young  king, 
that  they  at  once  resolved,  notwithstanding  their  recent 
defeat,  to  undertake  a  new  war  against  Jadsea.  With  this 
view  they  raised  an  army  consisting  of  one  hundred 
thousand    infantry,  twenty  thousand   cavalry,   thirty-two 


382  THE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

war-elephants,   and   three  hundred   chariots    armed    with 
scythes. 

This  mighty  host  was  evidently  designed  to  extinguish 
the  whole  Jewish  nation  ;  and  at  its  head  Lysias  marched 
southward,  and  besieged  Bethsura,  a  strong  fortress,  built 
to  protect  the  Idum^ean  frontier,  and  near  which  he  met 
with  his  first  overthrow  from  Judas.  This  vast  army  so 
overawed  the  comparatively  little  band  under  the  com- 
mand of  Judas,  that  he  could  not  induce  them  to  venture 
a  pitched  battle  ;  but  they  fell  upon  the  invaders  by  night, 
and  before  they  knew  who  had  entered  their  camp,  four 
thousand  of  them  were  slain.  Judas  drew  off  his  forces 
during  the  night,  and  the  next  morning  a  general  battle 
occurred ;  but  through  fear  of  being  surrounded  by  the 
enemy,  the  Jews  retreated  to  Jerusalem,  which  was  now 
well  prepared  for  defense.  Though  the  loss  of  the  Jews  in 
this  battle  was  comparatively  small,  yet  Judas  had  to 
mourn  the  loss  of  his  brother  Eleazer,  who  was  crushed 
by  the  fall  of  an  elephant  which  he  himself  slew,  under 
the  erroneous  impression  that  it  bore  the  person  of  the 
king.  The  Syrian  army  having  taken  Bethsura,  and 
placed  a  strong  garrison  in  it,  immediately  advanced  to 
.Jerusalem  and  laid  siege  to  that  city;  but  while  the 
Jews  were  trembling  for  their  safety,  Lysias  received  in- 
telligence that  Philip,  a  rival  regent,  whom  the  late  king 
had  appointed  on  his  death-bed,  had  entered  Syria  with  a 
large  army,  and  taken  possession  of  Antioch.  He,  there- 
fore, made  a  hasty  treaty  with  the  Jews,  granting  them  all 
that  they  demanded,  and  hastened  to  the  defeat  of  Philip ; 
but  before  he  left  Jerusalem,  he  threw  down,  in  violation 
of  the  treaty,  the  strong  walls  that  surrounded  the  Temple. 
Judas  was  now  recognized  as  the  governor  of  Judc^ea ;  and, 
iVom  this  period,  1C3  A.  C,  his  accession  to  the  principality 
is  usually  dated 


THE     ASAMONEANS  383 

Menelaus,  the  apostate  high  priest,  who  had  again  de- 
serted to  the  Syrians,  and  had  encouraged  the  late  expedi- 
tion, in  the  hope  of  obtaining  the  government  of  Judaea, 
being  now  regarded  by  them  as  the  real  author  of  their 
disasters,  was,  by  royal  order,  smothered  in  an  ash-pit  at 
Berea ;  the  vacant  high-priesthood  was  bestowed  upon 
Alcimus,  to  the  exclusion  of  the  rightful  successor,  Onias, 
the  son  of  that  Onias  who  had  been  murdered  at  Antioch,  at 
the  instigation  of  Menelaus.  In  consequence  of  this  disap- 
pointment, Onias  retired  into  Egypt  and,  being  well  received 
by  Ptolemy  Philomator,  he  asked  and  obtained  permission 
of  that  monarch  to  build  a  temple  for  the  accommodation 
of  the  numerous  Jews  in  that  country.  The  temple  was 
built  at  Heliopolis,  "  the  city  of  the  sun,"  after  the  model 
of  the  Temple  of  Jerusalem ;  but  it  was  neither  so  large 
nor  so  magnificent  as  the  latter.  Onias  became  high-priest; 
and  there  being  many  other  priests  and  Levites  in  the 
country,  the  services  were  thenceforth  conducted  at  Helio- 
polis as  at  Jerusalem,  until  both  Temples  were  destroyed 
in  the  reign  of  the  Koman  emperor  Vesj^asian. 

Alcimus,  the  new  high-priest,  was  not  only  a  man  of 
loose  principles,  but  was  firmly  attached  to  the  Grecian 
idolatries  ;  and  for  these  reasons  the  Jews  soon  deposed 
him  from  the  pontificate,  and  drove  him  out  of  the  country. 
In  the  following  year  Antiochus  Eupator  and  the  regent 
Lysias  were  defeated  and  slain  by  Demetrius  Soter,  the 
son  of  Seleucus  Philopator,  and  rightful  heir  to  the  throne. 
As  soon  as  this  prince  was  established  in  his  kingdom,  all 
the  Jewish  traitors  and  apostates,  with  Alcimus  at  their 
head,  came  to  him  with  many  grievous  complaints  against 
Judas  and  his  party  ;  and  Alcimus  represented  his  own  ex- 
pulsion as  an  expression  of  contempt  towards  the  Syrian 
power.  Listening  to  these  complaints,  Demetrius  resolved 
to  reinstate  Alcimus  in  the  priesthood ;  and  for  this  pur- 


384  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

pose  lie  sent  Bacchides,  one  of  his  most  skillful  generals, 
into  Judaea.  Bacchides  entered  the  country  without  any 
hostile  manifestations  ;  and  after  having  treacherously  slain 
many  of  the  Jews  who  had  unsuspectingly  placed  them- 
selves within  his  power,  he  left  Alcimus  with  a  force  that  he 
considered  sufficiently  strong  to  secure  him  in  his  office. 
But  Bacchides  had  no  sooner  withdrawn  than  Judas,  who 
had  retired  before  him,  routed  the  forces  under  Alcimus, 
and  easily  recovered  his  former  position.  Alcimus  again 
repaired  to  Antioch,  and  renewed  his  complaints  to  the 
king  with  increased  earnestness.  Incensed  at  the  repulse 
of  his  forces,  and  the  defiance  of  his  authority,  Demetrius 
now  sent  another  and  more  powerful  army  into  Judaea, 
commanded  by  Nicanor ;  but  in  the  second  action  that 
occurred,  that  general  was  so  completely  defeated  by  Judas, 
that  out  of  thirty-five  thousand  men,  not  one  was  left 
alive  to  bear  the  tidings  of  the  disaster  to  Antioch.  This 
great  victory  was  followed  by  a  season  of  rest,  and  was 
considered  of  so  much  importance  by  the  Jews,  that  they 
commemorated  it  by  the  establishment  of  an  annual 
festival. 

Wearied  by  these  constant  conflicts  with  Syrian  power, 
Judas  now  sought  and  obtained  an  alliance  with  the  dis- 
tant Romans.  As  the  first  fruits  of  this  alliance  the  Ro- 
man Senate  sent  a  message  to  Demetrius,  commanding 
him,  on  pain  of  their  displeasure,  to  abstain  for  the  future 
from  persecuting  the  Jews.  But  before  this  message  was 
received,  the  valiant  Judas  had  fallen  in  a  desperate  con- 
flict with  Bacchides  and  Alcimus,  who  had  been  sent  to 
avenge  the  destruction  of  Nicanor  and  his  army.  The 
body  of  tlie  hero  was  deposited  by  his  brothers,  Simon  and 
Jonathan,  in  the  family  sepulchre  at  Modin ;  and  all 
Israel  mourned  for  him  many  days,  crying,  "  How  is 
the  valiant  fallen,  that  delivered  Israel."    The  death  of  their 


THE     ASAMONEANS.  385 

great  leader  threw  the  Jews  into  such  consternation  that, 
comparatively  without  opposition,  the  Syrians  took  pos- 
session of  Jerusalem,  slew  many  of  the  adherents  of  the 
Maccabees,  and  restored  Alcimus  to  the  high-priesthood. 
Instead  of  profiting  by  his  past  experience,  however,  he 
immediately  commenced  making  new  innovations  into  the 
religion  of  his  country,  in  order  to  conform  it  to  the  prac- 
tices of  the  heathen.  He  now  went  so  far  as  to  break 
down  the  wall  which  separated  the  inner  from  the  outer 
court  of  the  Temple,  in  order  that  there  might  be  no  dif- 
ference between  the  Temple  privileges  of  the  Jews,  and 
those  of  the  Gentiles.  In  the  full  career  of  his  guilt,  the 
wicked  high-priest  was,  however,  soon  after  cut  off,  and 
died  in  all  the  agonies  of  anticipated  future  retribution. 

On  the  death  of  Alcimus,  Bacchides  returned  to  Syria, 
and  the  Jews  remained  unmolested  during  the  two  follow- 
ing years.  Jonathan,  the  youngest  brother  of  Judas,  had, 
meantime,  been  chosen  by  them  as  their  prince  and  leader, 
and  he  employed  this  interval  of  peace  in  establishing  a 
regular  government,  in  strengthening  the  walls  and  forti- 
fications of  Jerusalem,  and  in  eflfecting  various  reforma- 
tions in  both  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  affairs  of  the 
country.  The  adverse  faction,  however,  soon  became  jea- 
lous of  the  prosperity  of  his  administration ;  and  they,  there- 
fore, conspired,'  with  the  aid  of  Bacchides,  to  capture,  in 
one  night,  both  Jonathan  and  all  his  adherents  throughout 
the  land.  This  design  being  secretly  communicated  to 
Jonathan,  Jie  seized  fifty  of  the  leading  conspirators  and 
put  them  to  death ;  and  then  he  and  his  brother  Simon, 
collecting  together  their  friends,  retired  with  them  to  Beth- 
basi,  a  strong  fortress  in  the  wilderness.  Thither  they 
were  immediately  pursued  by  Bacchides,  who  laid  close 
siege  to  the  place  ;  but  the  besieged  defended  themselves  so 
successfully,  that  Bacchides  at  length  became  weary  of  an 
17 


38G  THE     ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

enterprise,  from  whicli  so  little  honor  was  to  be  won ;  and 
putting  those  to  death  who  had  engaged  him  in  it,  he  made 
peace  with  Jonathan,  and  after  an  exchange  of  prisoners, 
he  withdrew  his  forces,  engaging  to  trouble  the  land  no 
more. 

During  the  three  following  years  of  peace,  Jonathan  so 
far  improved  the  condition  of  his  country  as  to  give  the 
promise  of  stability  to  his  government ;  but  at  the  expira- 
tion of  that  time  a  new  claimant  of  the  crown  of  Syria 
appeared,  in  the  person  of  Alexander  Balas.  Both  he  and 
Demetrius  were  anxious  to  secure  the  friendship  of  so 
warlike  a  people  as  the  Jews  had  now  become ;  but  the 
remembrance  of  the  wrongs  which  Demetrius  had  inflicted 
upon  the  nation,  as  well  as  good  policy,  induced  Jonathan 
to  espouse  the  cause  of  Balas.  In  return,  Balas  bestowed 
upon  Jonathan  the  high-priesthood,  which  had  now  been 
vacant  seven  years,  and  sent  him  also  a  purple  robe  and 
crown,  as  prince  of  Judaea.  Thus,  with  the  full  sanction 
of  the  people,  the  chief  ecclesiastical  and  civil  power 
were  both  vested  in  Jonathan ;  and  at  the  Feast  of 
Tabernacles,  in  153  A.  C,  he  assumed  his  arduous  du- 
ties. 

When  Demetrius  heard  of  what  had  passed  in  Judaea, 
he  determined  to  outbid  Balas  for  the  aid  of  the  Jews; 
and  he  therefore  sent  to  Jonathan  a  long  list  of  privileges 
and  immunities  which  he  would  grant  the  people,  and 
honors  for  himself,  if  they  would  espouse  his  cause.  But 
distrusting  his  sincerity,  they  resolved  to  adhere  to  the 
cause  of  Balas ;  and  that  cause,  essentially  through  their 
aid,  proving  successful,  when  Balas  went  to  Ptolemais  to 
espouse  the  daughter  of  the  king  of  Egypt,  he  gratefully 
acknowledged  the  efficient  assistance  he  had  received  from 
Jwathan  during  the  struggle,  and  treated  him  with  distin- 
guished respect.     But  Balas^  unfortunately,  abandoned  all 


THE     ASAMONEANS.  387 

the  affairs  of  government  to  his  ministers;  and  by  that 
means  he  so  alienated  his  friends  and  encouraged  his  ene- 
mies, that  in  the  fifth  year  of  his  reign,  he  was  treach- 
erously murdered,  and  his  head  laid  at  the  feet  of  the 
younger  Demetrius,  the  son  of  Demetrius  Soter. 

Demetrius  Nicator  now  became  king  of  Syria,  and  as 
Jonathan  had  remained  true  to  Balas  during  the  recent 
struggle,  he  was  summoned  to  Antioch  to  account  for  his 
conduct.  He  unhesitatingly  obeyed  the  summons,  carry- 
ing with  him  valuable  presents ;  and  he  there  conducted 
himself  so  discreetly,  that  Demetrius  not  only  confirmed 
him  in  all  the  dignities  he  had  received  from  Alexander 
Balas,  but  added  also  all  the  valuable  privileges  which  had 
been  oflered  him  by  his  father  at  the  commencement  of  the 
contest.  Jonathan,  soon  after  his  return  to  Jerusalem, 
sent  an  embassy  to  Eome  to  renew  the  treaty  which  his 
brother  Judas  had  made  with  that  people ;  and  his  govern- 
ment, which  continued  ten  years  after  that  time — in  all, 
seventeen  years — was,  in  the  highest  degree,  beneficial  to 
his  country,  and  tended  much  to  give  to  the  peculiar  insti 
tutions  of  the  people  that  determinate  character  which  was 
essential  to  their  continuance. 

The  death  of  Jonathan  was  as  tragical  as  his  life  had 
been  eminent  and  useful.  Tryphon,  a  former  governor  of 
Antioch,  had  raised  to  the  throne  a  younger  son  of  Alex- 
ander Balas,  in  whose  interest  the  Jews,  during  the  strug- 
gle, earnestly  engaged.  They  were  led  to  this  course  by 
the  perfidy  of  Demetrius,  who  had  cancelled  all  the  privi- 
leges he  had  granted  to  the  Jewish  people  on  his  accession 
to  the  throne.  Tryphon  had,  however,  espoused  the  cause 
of  the  young  Balas  merely  to  prepare  the  w^ay  to  the  throne 
for  himself;  but  as  he  saw  in  Jonathan  a  formidable  obsta- 
cle to  his  ambitious  purposes,  he  determined  to  remove  him 
out  of  the  way.     This  he  soon  after  accomplished  at  Ptole- 


388  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

mais,  where  Jonathan  and  a  thousand  of  his  followers,  whc 
had  attended  him  as  a  guard,  were  first  treacherously  in- 
duced to  enter  the  gates  of  the  city,  and  then  barbarously 
murdered. 

The  tragical  death  of  Jonathan  occurred  in  143  A.  C, 
and  the  melancholy  event  filled  the  Jews  with  grief  and 
consternation.  To  avert  the  danger  which  this  state  of 
feeling  threatened,  Simon,  the  only  remaining  brother  of 
Judas  and  Jonathan,  called  the  people  together  in  the 
Temple,  and  offered  himself  as  their  leader.  The  offer 
was  accepted  with  joy;  and  the  first  act  of  Simon's 
administration  was  to  put  the  country  in  a  state  of  com- 
plete defense,  by  repairing  the  fortresses  and  storing  them 
with  munitions  of  war.  He  then  sent  an  embassy  to  De- 
metrius, offering  to  acknowledge  his  sovereignty,  and  to 
assist  him  against  Tryphon,  who  had  murdered  young 
Balas  and  assumed  the  crown  himself.  Demetrius  at  once 
accepted  this  offer ;  and  in  return,  acknowledged  Simon 
as  the  high-priest  and  prince  of  the  Jews,  relinquished  all 
claims  upon  him  for  tribute,  customs  and  taxes,  and 
granted  an  amnesty  for  all  past  offenses  against  himself. 
This  agreement  being  committed  to  writing,  was  regarded 
by  both  parties  as  a  charter  of  Jewish  freedom  and  inde- 
pendence ;  and,  accordingly,  with  the  year  143  A.  C,  the 
Jews  commenced  a  new  epoch,  dating  from  it  as  from  the 
first  year  of  "  the  freedom  of  Jerusalem." 

Assuming  now  the  character  of  an  independent  prince, 
Simon  resolved  to  reduce  the  fortresses  that  still  held  out 
against  his  authority ;  and  amongst  the  rest,  he  compelled 
the  Syrian  garrison  in  the  citadel  of  Jerusalem  to  surren- 
der. He  appointed  his  son  John  commander  of  the  forces, 
and  sent  him  with  Demetrius  to  the  wars  in  the  East ; 
where,  from,  his  exploits  in  Hyrcania,  he  received  the  sur- 
name of  Hyrcanus.     In  the  third  year  of  his  reign  Simon 


THE      ASAMONEANS.  389 

renewed  the  treaty  with  the  Romans,  and  sent  them,  as  a 
present,  a  shield  of  gold  w^orth  fifty  talents.  With  this 
expression  of  respect  the  Roman  senate  were  so  well 
pleased,  that  they  immediately  wrote  to. all  the  kings  in 
the  neighborhood  of  Judsea,  commanding  them  to  treat  the 
Jews  as  friends  and  allies  of  the  Romans.  In  the  follow- 
ing year  Antiochus  Sidetes  ascended  the  Syrian  throne, 
his  brother  Demetrius  having  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the 
Parthians,  by  whom  he  was  detained  in  bondage.  Sidetes 
confirmed  to  Simon  all  the  privileges  that  had  been  granted 
by  his  predecessors,  and  added  also  the  regal  prerogative 
of  coining  money.  Sidetes  had,  however,  no  sooner  de- 
feated and  slain  the  usurper  Tryphon,  than  he  demanded 
the  surrender  of  all  the  strongholds  which  Simon  had 
taken,  and  the  payment  of  the  tribute,  also,  which  had 
been  relinquished. 

To  enforce  these  extraordinary  demands,  Sidetes  sent  a 
powerful  army  into  Judaea ;  but  it  was  soon  met  and  com- 
pletely defeated  by  Simon's  two  eldest  sons,  John  and 
Judas.  This  victory  was  followed  by  an  interval  of  peace, 
during  which  Simon  and  two  of  his  sons  Avere  treacher- 
ously murdered  at  Jericho,  by  his  son-in-law,  Ptolemy, 
who  aspired  to  his  office  and  power.  Ptolemy,  at  the 
same  time,  attempted  to  destroy  John  Hyrcanus ;  but 
that  young  prince,  having  received  intelligence  of  his 
design,  fled  to  Jerusalem,  where  he  was  joyfully  received, 
and  immediately  elected  by  the  people  as  his  father's  suc- 
cessor. Ptolemy  now  applied  to  Antiochus  for  an  army  to 
enable  him  to  bring  the  country  again  under  the  Syrian 
yoke ;  but  Hyrcanus,  without  waiting  for  his  movements, 
marched  against  him,  and  besieged  him  in  a  fortress  near 
fJericho,  in  which  he  had  taken  refuge.  The  sabbatical 
year,  however,  being  about  to  commence,  the  siege  was 
soon  after  raised,  and  Ptolemy  fled  beyond  the  Jordan  to 


390  THE     ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

await  the  arrival  of  Antiochus,  which  took  place  in  the 
following  year,  135  A.  C. 

Antiochus,  as  soon  as  he  entered  Judaea,  laid  siege  to 
Jerusalem;  and  the  city,  not  being  well  supplied  with 
provisions,  was  soon  reduced  to  the  greatest  extremity. 
The  time  of  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles  now  approached, 
and  Hyrcanus  begged  a  week's  respite  to  enable  him  to 
celebrate  the  festival.  Antiochus  not  only  complied  with 
this  request,  but  even  supplied  the  victims  for  the  sacri- 
fice ;  and  he  soon  after  concluded  a  peace  with  Hyrcanus, 
though  he  knew  the  city  could,  at  any  moment,  be  taken. 
He,  however,  eventually  brought  Judaea  once  more  under 
the  Syrian  dominion,  dismantled  Jerusalem,  and  exacted 
tribute  for  the  fortresses  which  were  held  out  of  the  coun- 
try. Antiochus  was  soon  after  killed  in  a  war  with  the 
Parthians;  and  of  the  confusion  which  followed- Hyrca- 
nus availed  himself  to  enlarge  his  territories,  and  to 
recover    the    independence    of    his  country. 


SECTION    II. 


John  Hyrcanus— Reduction  of  Samaria,  and  other  triumphs — The 
Government  seized  by  Aristobulus — His  Cruelties — Alexander 
— The  Pharisees  and  the  Sodduceea — Their  relative  chai-acter — Civil 
War — The  Government  of  Alexandra — Contentions  between  Hyr- 
canus and  Aristobulus,  sons  of  Alexandra — Pompey  the  Great  in 
Judaea — Jerusalem  besieged  and  taken  by  Him — He  enters  the  Holy 
of  Holies — Aristobulus  carried  captive  to  Rome,  and  Herod,  son  of 
Antipater,  made  King. 

From  the  death  of  Antiochus  Sidetes,  Judaea  ceased  to 
Ixi  a  dependent  of  the  Syrian  empire  :  and,  thenceforward, 
no  service  was  rendered,  nor  tribute,  nor  homage  paid  by 
the  Jews  to  the  kings  of  Syria. 

Free  and  independent  of  the  most  inveterate  enemy 
that   his  country  had  ever  known,  John  Hyrcanus  now 


275 


225 


^75 


War  with  Pvrrhus 

(28o-27i). 

Eratosthenes  (b.) 

Italy  conquered 
by  the  Romans. 

rst  Punic  War 

(263-241). 

Plautus  (b.  254), 

Hannibal  (b.  247) 

SciPio  (b.  234) 


2d  Punic  War 

(218-201). 

Cannae  (216). 

Bat.  Metaurus. 

Polybius. 

Zama  (202). 

Macedonian  War 

(200-197). 

Terence  (b.  194). 
Cynocephalae. 


! Macedonian  War 
I  Pydna  (bat.  168). 
j    Marius  (b.  157). 
3d  Punic  W^ar 
I  (I5c^i46). 

146  Scipio  Africanus. 


The  Four 
EMPIRES 


iS 


PI    r-  ' 

c      ' 

g3; 


<  a  a 


7  ore 

'(DO) 

-0  O 

'o  O  0 

(D   • 

I  Q   O 


o 

X   f6   0) 
M  3  0 

2. -a  2 


Phihp  III.  (323). 
Antigonus  (318). 
Cassander  (316). 
Seleucus  I,  (312). 
Demetrius  (301), 
Rat.  Ipsus  (301), 


Antipater  (296), 

Ptolemy  II.  (285), 

Antochus  I.  (280). 

Antigonus  (277). 


2:2 
OS  Four  Horns 

ill         (222) 
OS  in  the 

Vision  of  Daniel, 

which  continued) 
rritill    they    were, 
"^^  S3  C  in     succession, 

O  S  5  overcome  by  the ! 
>  ™S    •  •  A 

'     rising  power  of  ^ 

W5         ROME. 


S2 
-13 


03  r 

o 
a  0 

W2 


5;  '^^       The  Jews 
o  jTj5  emerge  from  their 
^i^Slong   obscurity, 
o  t<; ;  and  become  free  \ 
,  IS  ?  under  the 

Maccabees. 
(167-39.) 


S  I 


C  3 


FALL  OF  CAliTH.\GE.  146  B.C.        ! 


The  Septuagint. 


Antiochus  II. 
(261). 


Ptolemy  III. 

(247). 
Seleucus  II.  (246.) 

Demetrius  II. 

Antigonus  Doson. 
Seleucus  III.  (226). 
Seleucus  IV.  (222) 
Antiochus  III. 
(223). 
Ptolemy  IV.  (220), 

Ptolemy  V.  (205). 

Seleucus  IV.  (187). 

Ptolemy  VI.  (181). 

Perseus  (179). 

Antiochus  IV. 

(175). 

Antiochus  V.  (164). 

Demetrius  (162) 
Soter. 

Alexander  Bala. 


146 


THE     ASAMONEANS.  391 

couimenccd  his  administration  of  the  government  with  un- 
usual energy  and  spirit.  His  first  enterprise,  the  invasion 
of  Samaria,  must  have  been  extremely  acceptable  to  the 
Jews.  After  various  preliminary  successes,  he  took  Shec- 
hem,  the  principal  city  of  the  Samaritans,  and  destroyed 
the  temple  which  bad  been  set  up  by  them  upon  Mount  Ge- 
rizim.  He  then  marched  against  the  Idumaeans,  the  de- 
scendants of  the  ancient  Edomites  ;  and  having  completely 
subdued  them,  he  offered  them  the  alternative  of  quitting 
the  country,  or  of  adopting  the  Jewish  religion.  These 
people  had,  during  the  captivity,  established  themselves  in 
the  southern  part  of  Judaea,  and  made  Hebron  their  capital ; 
and  sooner  than  leave  the  country,  to  which  they  had  now 
become  much  attached,  they  espoused  the  Jewish  faith  ;  and, 
afterwards,  gradually  became  so  closely  incorporated  with 
the  Jewish  people,  as  scarcely  to  be  distinguished  from 
them.  The  alliance  with  the  Komans  was,  meantime,  re- 
newed ;  and  in  the  course  of  the  two  following  years,  two 
separate  decrees  were  issued  from  the  senate,  in  favor  of 
Hyrcanus  and  the  Jewish  people,  securing  them  against  the 
aggressions  of  their  neighbors.  Thus,  by  consolidating  the 
government,  by  conquests,  and  by  alliances  with  other  na- 
tions, Hyrcanus  raised  the  Jews  to  a  position  of  much 
greater  dignity  and  power,  than  they  had  occupied  at  any 
other  time  since  their  return  from  captivity. 

At  his  death,  which  occurred  in  107  A.  C,  Hyrcanus 
left  the  principality  to  his  wife ;  but  the  government  was 
immediately  seized  by  his  eldest  son,  Aristobulus,  who  cast 
his  mother  into  prison  and  there  left  her  to  die  of  hunger. 
He  also  imprisoned  the  three  younger  of  his  brothers  ;  but 
for  Antigonus,  the  next  in  age  to  himself,  he  showed  much 
affection,  and  frequently  employed  him  in  state  affairs.  Be- 
ing, as  he  supposed,  firmly  fixed  in  his  government,  Aristo- 
bulus now  assumed  the  royal  title  and  diadem — a  distinction 


302  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

whicli  had  not  been  claimed  by  any  previous  member  of  hia 
family.  Ambitious  to  extend  liis  dominions,  he  attacked  and 
subdued  the  Iturians  ;  and  these  people,  like  the  Edomites, 
chose  rather  to  accept  the  Jewish  religion  than  to  abandon 
their  country.  In  the  midst  of  these  triumphs  Aristobulus 
was  led,  through  an  unjust  suspicion,  to  put  his  beloved 
brother,  Antigonus,  to  death ;  and,  when  he  discovered  his 
mistake,  the  horror  and  remorse  which  followed,  soon 
terminated  both  his  reign  and  life.  His  three  imprisoned 
brothers  were  now  liberated ;  and  the  eldest  of  them,  Alex- 
ander Jannaeus,  was  at  once  advanced  to  the  throne. 

Alexander  commenced  his  reign  in  105  A.  C,  and  soon 
discovered  those  talents  for  war  which  distinguished  so 
many  of  his  predecessors.  He  subdued  the  Philistines  and 
compelled  them  to  adopt  the  Jewish  religion ;  and,  soon 
after,  brought  under  subjection  'Moab,  Ammon,  Gilead,  and 
a  part  of  Arabia  Petrsea.  His  reign  was  not,  however,  in 
other  respects,  happy ;  for  the  Pharisees,  a  sect  that  had 
attained  to  great  power  and  influence  in  the  reign  of  Hyr- 
canus,  were  a  source  of  constant  annoyance  to  him.  Their 
turbulent  character  and  lofty  pretensions,  induced  Alexan- 
der, in  imitation  of  his  father  Hyrcanus,  to  attach  himself 
to  the  rival  sect  of  the  Sadducees.  This  led  the  Pharisees 
to  detest  both  his  person  and  his  government,  and  they 
hence  embraced  every  opportunity  to  exasperate  the  minds 
of  the  people  not  only  against  his  administration,  but  also 
against  his  conduct  and  character.  He  was,  about  this 
time,  unfortunate  in  the  siege  of  Amathus,  beyond  the  Jor- 
dan ;  and  this  circumstance  gave  such  increased  boldness 
to  the  Pharisees,  that  they,  at  length,  openly  assailed  him 
"while  he  was  engaged  in  the  most  sacred  act  of  the  ritual 
service.  At  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles,  as  he  stood  before 
the  altar,  performing  the  functions  of  his  office,  the  Phari- 
sees, and  the  multitude  incited  by  them,  cast  at  him  the 


THE     ASAMONEANS.  393 

citrons  which  the  Jews  usually  carried  in  their  hands  on 
that  occasion. 

A  civil  war  of  nine  years  was  the  consequence  of  this 
outrageous  insult  to  Alexander ;  and  in  the  course  of  the 
contest  more  than  fifty  thousand  persons  perished.  This 
war  was  marked,  throughout,  by  the  most  cruel  acts  of  bar- 
barity ;  and  the  concluding  scene,  the  taking  of  Bethone 
by  Alexander,  surpassed  all  the  rest.  The  conqueror, 
after  the  fall  of  the  place,  brought  eight  hundred  prisoners 
to  Jerusalem,  and  after  having  put  their  wives  and  chil- 
dren to  death  before  their  eyes,  caused  them  all  to  be 
sacrificed  in  one  day.  After  the  tragical  close  of  the  civil 
war,  Alexander  spent  three  years  in  reducing  the  fortresses 
which  had  fallen  into  hostile  hands  during  these  troubles, 
and  in  extending  his  power  beyond  the  Jordan  ;  and  then 
returning  to  Jerusalem,  he  abandoned  himself  to  such  an 
extent,  to  sloth,  luxury,  and  drunkenness,  that  he  brought 
on  a  fever  under  which  he  lingered  for  three  years,  and 
then  died,  82  A.  C. 

Alexander,  before  his  death,  had  placed  the  government 
in  the  hands  of  his  wife,  Alexandra,  and  made  her  the 
guardian  of  his  two  sons,  Hyrcanus  and  Aristobulus.  He, 
at  the  same  time,  advised  her  to  commit  to  the  leaders 
among  the  Pharisees  the  management  of  public  aftairs  ; 
and  with  this  mark  of  confidence  they  were  so  well  pleased, 
that  they  not  only  secured  her  own  peaceful  succession  to 
the  throne,  but  bestowed  a  magnificent  funeral  on  their  old 
enemy,  her  deceased  husl.>and.  The  Pharisees  being  now 
the  dominant  party,  and  greatly  exceeding  the  Sadducees, 
both  in  numbers  and  in  popularity,  the  queen  soon  became 
a  mere  tool  in  their  hands.  She  was  compelled  to  yield  to 
all  their  demands,  and  to  sanction  a  most  violent  persecu- 
tion of  the  Sadducees — the  former  friends  and  adherents  of 
Jannaeus.  These  measures  drove  many  of  the  most 
17* 


S94  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

valuable  citizens  of  Jerusalem  to  abandon  the  city,  and 
seek  shelter  in  the  more  obscure  towns. 

Of  the  two  sons  of  the  late  king,  Hyrcanus,  who  was  a 
man  of  quiet  habits  and  indolent  temper,  was  appointed 
high-priest.  The  other  son,  Aristobulus,  possessed  a  more 
ardent  and  active  spirit ;  and  being  much  displeased  with 
the  proceedings  of  his  mother,  and  the  conduct  of  the 
Pharisees,  he,  with  the  principal  men  of  the  party  of  the 
Sadducees,  asked  permission  of  the  queen  to  quit  the 
country,  or  to  reside  in  the  frontier  towns,  out  of  the  way 
of  their  persecutors.  The  request  was  granted  on  condi- 
tion that  they  would  avoid  those  towns  in  which  the  queen 
kept  her  treasures.  Aristobulus' s  restless  spirit  was  still, 
however,  dissatisfied ;  and  returning  soon  after  to  Jerusa- 
lem, he  obtained  the  command  of  some  forces  to  relieve 
Damascus.  His  only  object  seems,  however,  to  have  been 
to  obtain  an  opportunity  to  render  himself  agreeable  to 
the  soldiers,  as  he  soon  after  returned  without  having 
effected  anything  of  importance.  Alexandra,  the  queen, 
died  after  a  peaceful  reign  of  nine  years,  in  70  A.  C;  and 
not  being  willing,  openly,  to  express  a  preference  for  either 
of  the  contending  parties,  she  refused  to  nominate  a  suc- 
cessor. The  Pharisees,  however,  immediately  placed  her 
sou  Hyrcanus,  on  the  throne ;  but  his  reign  continued 
only  three  months ;  for  Aristobulus  having  obtained  pos- 
session of  the  principal  castles  of  the  kingdom,  raised  a 
large  array  and  compelled  Hyrcanus  to  relinquish  both 
the  crown  and  the  high-priesthood,  and  retire  into  private 
life. 

Upon  the  fall  of  Hyrcanus,  69  A.  C,  Aristobulus  was 
acknowledged  sovereign,  and  the  tyrannical  oppressions 
and  persecutions  of  the  Pharisees  ceased.  After  passing 
about  six  years  in  the  retirement  of  private  life,  Hyrca- 
mus  was  persuaded  by  Anti pater,  an  Idumrean,  who  had 


THE     ASAMONEANS.  395 

been  appointed  governor  of  Idumaea  by  Alexander  Jan- 
naeus,  to  escape  by  night  to  Petra,  the  capital  of  the  Ara- 
bian king,  Aretas,  and  claim  his  protection  and  assistance 
against  his  brother  Aristobulus,  who,  Antipater  had  taught 
him  to  believe,  sought  his  life.  Aretas  at  once  espoused 
his  cause,  and  at  the  head  of  an  army  of  fifty  thousand 
men,  accompanied  him  back  to  Judsea.  Being  at  once 
joined  by  many  Jews  who  were  friendly  to  the  cause  of 
Hyrcanus,  Aretas  defeated  Aristobulus,  and  compelled  him 
to  retreat  to  the  temple-mount,  which  had  recently  been 
turned  into  a  strong  fortress.  The  fortress  was  immedi- 
ately besieged  by  the  victorious  party,  and  the  siege  was 
carried  on  with  an  animosity  peculiar  to  civil  war.  The 
besiegers  would  not  permit  the  lambs  for  sacrifice  to  be 
introduced  into  the  Temple,  though  Aristobulus  offered, 
from  the  walls,  the  money  to  pay  for  them. 

At  this  period  Pompey  the  G-reat  was  commanding  the 
Roman  forces  in  the  East,  and  was  in  Armenia,  conducting 
a  war  against  Mithridates  and  Tigranes,  while  Severus,  one 
of  his  generals,  commanded  in  Syria.  Aristobulus,  in  the 
emergency  of  his  affairs,  implored  the  assistance  of  Severus, 
who  was  now  at  Damascus,  against  the  party  of  his 
brother ;  and  as  an  inducement  to  a  compliance  with  his 
request,  he  sent  him  four  hundred  talents  of  gold.  The 
party  of  Hyrcanus  made  a  similar  application,  offering  the 
same  Sum;  but  the  Eoman  general  preferred  the  cause  of 
Aristobulus,  and  therefore  ordered  Aretas  instantly  to 
withdraw  his  forces  from  Judaea,  or  expect  to  feel  the  effect 
of  Roman  displeasure.  The  Arabian  king  at  once  obeyed 
the  order  of  Severus;  but  being  slow  in  his  retreat,  he  was 
overtaken  by  Aristobulus,  and  was  defeated  in  a  bloody 
cattle,  in  which  many  of  the  friends  of  Hyrcanus  perished. 
As  by  this  victory  Aristobulus  again  became  master  of 
Judcea,  he  was  anxious   to  procure  from   the  Romans  a 


306  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

recognition  of  his  title  to  the  crown.  With  this  view, 
when  Pompey  soon  after  arrived  at  Damascus,  ho  sent  an 
embassy  to  him,  bearing,  as  a  present,  an  exquisitely- 
wrought  vine  of  gold,  valued  at  five  hundred  talents.  The 
present  was  accepted,  but  the  suit  was  postponed  for  future 
consideration.  This  vine  was  afterwards  deposited  in  the 
Temple  of  Jupiter,  at  Rome,  with  the  name  of  Alexander, 
the  father  of  Aristobulus,  inscribed  upon  it  as  the  donor. 
In  the  following  year  both  Hyrcanus  and  Aristobulus 
sent  deputies  to  Pompey,  requesting  him  to  investigate 
their  relative  pretensions  to  the  crown  of  Judcea;  but  he 
deferred  the  matter  till  the  year  ensuing,  when  both  claim 
ants  appeared  before  him  in  person,  accompanied  by  nu- 
merous witnesses  to  sustain  their  respective  causes.  At 
the  same  time  another  Jewish  party  presented  themselves 
before  Pompey,  and  accused  both  Hyrcanus  and  Aristo- 
bulus of  having  changed  the  government  into  a  monarchy, 
when  it  should  properly  be  administered  by  the  high- 
priest.  Pompey,  however,  still  withheld  his  decision  until 
he  should  be  at  leisure  to  come  himself  and  settle  the  con- 
troversy at  Jerusalem.  Hyrcanus,  though  of  very  weak 
capacity,  yet  being  the  elder,  had,  evidently,  the  best  claim 
to  the  crown  ;  and  the  impetuous  Aristobulus,  aware  of 
this  fact,  and  conscious  that  the  very  incapacity  of  his 
rival  brother  rendered  him  more  acceptable  to  the  Roman 
leader,  abruptly  withdrew  from  Damascus,  and  hastened 
back  to  his  own  country  to  make  preparations  for  war. 
This  conduct  of  Aristobulus  so  enraged  Pompey  that  he 
resolved  to  punish  him  with  the  utmost  severity  ;  and,  there- 
fore, on  his  return  from  an  expedition  against  the  Na- 
bathaean  Arabs,  he  marched  into  Judaea,  and  summoned 
Aristobulus,  who,  on  his  approach,  had  retired  to  the 
strong  fortress  of  Alexandrium,  to  appear  before  him. 
Aristobulus,  trusting  to  Roman  magnanimity,  immediately 


\ 

THE     ASAMONEANS.  397 

obeyed  the  summons ;  but  Pompey  no  sooner  had  him  in 
his  power,  than  he  compelled  him  to  assign  to  the  Komans 
all  the  fortresses  he  possessed. 

Aristobulus,  liaving  no  other  alternative,  did  as  he  was 
commanded;  but  he  was  no  sooner  released  than  he 
hastened  to  Jerusalem,  resolved  to  defend  himself  and  his 
capital  to  the  last  extremity.  As  Pompey  advanced  to 
the  city,  however,  the  gates  were  opened  by  tlie  party  of 
Hyrcanus,  and  the  followers  of  Aristobulus  were  compelled 
once  more  to  withdraw  to  the  Temple.  In  this  sacred  retreat 
they  were  closely  besieged  by  Pompey,  whose  operations 
in  the  siege  were  greatly  facilitated  by  the  strictness  with 
which  the  Jewish  people  observed  the  Sabbath.  As  they 
considered  it  unlawful  to  take  any  steps,  on  that  sacred 
day,  to  hinder  the  works  or  operations  of  the  enemy,  the 
Eomans  were  allowed,  without  the  least  molestation,  to 
carry  on,  during  the  Sabbath  days,  their  preparations  for 
the  assault  of  the  ensuing  weeks.  By  this  means  they  at 
length,  after  a  siege  of  three  months,  carried  the  Temple 
by  assault,  on  the  very  day  that  the  Jews  were  accustomed 
to  observe  as  a  fast  for  the  taking  of  the  city  and  Temple 
by  Nebuchadnezzar.  During  the  whole  of  the  siege  the 
service  of  the  Temple  was  never  remitted — the  priests  be- 
ing deterred  from  the  performance  of  their  duty  neither  by 
the  death  of  their  friends,  nor  the  rage  of  their  enemies ; 
and  many  of  them,  while  officiating  at  the  altar,  had  their 
own  blood  mingled  with  that  of  the  sacrifices. 

Having  thus  completely  subdued  Aristobulus  and  his 
party,  Pompey  had  the  temerity  to  enter  the  Temple, 
even  to  the  Holy  of  Holies ;  and  it  is  a  remarkable  fact, 
that  from  that  period  a  succession  of  reverses  attended 
him  which  terminated  only  with  his  final  overthrow  by 
Caesar,  on  the  plains  of  Pharsalia.  In  the  sanctuary  his 
admiration  was  greatly  excited  by  the  various  curious  ob- 


398  THE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

jects  presented  to  his  view  ;  but  he  abstained  from  touch- 
ing any  of  the  sacred  utensils,  and  even  the  treasures  of 
the  Temple,  which  amounted  to  ten  thousand  talents  of 
gold.  He  afterwards  caused  the  Temple  to  be  cleansed 
and  purified,  and  Divine  service  to  be  resumed.  Before 
Pompey  left  Judaea,  however,  he  ordered  the  walls  and  for- 
tifications of  Jerusalem  to  be  demolished,  reduced  the 
country  to  the  condition  of  a  Roman  province,  and  ap- 
pointed Hyrcanus  high-priest  and  prince ;  imposing  upon 
him  an  annual  tribute  to  the  Romans,  and  forbidding  him 
to  assume  the  crown,  or  to  extend  his  territory  beyond  its 
ancient  limits.  Thus,  in  61  A.  C,  Judaea  was  subjected 
to  the  Romans,  and  was,  with  Syria,  erected  into  a  prov- 
ince, and  left  under  the  government  of  Scaurus,  as  prefect, 
with  two  legions  to  preserve  order. 

When  Pompey  left  Judaea  he  took  Aristobulus,  his  two 
sons  Alexander  and  Antigonus,  and  two  of  his  daughters, 
to  grace  his  triumph  at  Rome.  But  Alexander,  the 
eldest  son,  escaped  from  his  captor  during  the  journey,  and 
returned  in  safety  to  his  own  country.  In  57  A.  C.  he 
had  collected  together  a  sufficient  force  to  seize  and  garri- 
son several  strong  fortresses,  from  which  he  ravaged  the 
whole  country.  Jerusalem  was  now  in  imminent  peril, 
being  without  walls,  and,  therefore,  imminently  exposed 
to  attack.  In  this  situation  Hyrcanus,  being  forbidden 
by  Roman  jealousy  either  to  wall  or  fortify  the  city,  ap- 
plied to  Gabinius  for  assistance ;  and  the  pro-consul 
immediately  marched  an  army  into  Judaea,  accompanied 
by  the  celebrated  Mark  Antony,  as  commander  of  h>3 
cavalry.  The  Roman  troops  were  soon  joined  by  those 
of  Hyrcanus,  under  the  command  of  Antipater;  and  in 
the  battle  that  followed,  Alexander  was  entirely  defeated, 
and  compelled  to  take  refuge  in  the  strong  fortress  of 
Alexandrium.     Through  the  mediation  of  his  mother,  he 


THE     ASAMONEANS.  399 

soon  after  concluded  a  peace  with  Gabinius,  the  principal 
article  of  which  was,  that  the  fortresses  held  by  him  should 
be  surrendered  up  and  demolished. 

Gabinius  now,  under  the  advice  of  Antipater,  changed 
the  government  of  Judjea  to  an  aristocracy.  The  admin- 
istration of  affairs  had  hitherto  been  conducted  by  two 
sanhedrim,  or  courts  of  justice — the  inferior  consisting 
of  twenty-tlu'ee  members,  existed  in  every  city,  and  was 
subject  to  the  Grand  Sanhedrim  of  seventy-two  members, 
which  sat  at  Jerusalem.  Gabinius  dissolved  both  of  these, 
and  established  in  their  place  five  separate,  independent 
tribunals — at  Jerusalem,  Jericho,  Gadara,  Amathus,  and 
Sepphoris — giving  to  each  the  power  of  administering 
summary  justice  upon  the  inhabitants  of  the  several  dis- 
tricts of  which  they  were  the  centre.  This  arrangement 
threw  the  whole  power  into  the  hands  of  the  nobles,  who 
presided  in  these  courts,  and  was  very  acceptable  to  the 
mass  of  the  Jews ;  for,  as  they  were  now  anxiously  ex- 
pecting the  appearance  of  the  promised  Messiah,  they  were 
unwilling  to  have  any  king  reign  over  them  who  was  not 
of  the  house  of  David. 

In  55  A.  C.  Aristobulus  and  his  younger  son  Antigonus, 
escaped  from  Kome  and  returned  to  Judaea,  where  they 
were  at  once  welcomed  by  a  large  body  of  adherents,  and 
would,  doubtless,  have  proved  successful ;  but  the  Eoman 
army,  under  the  command  of  Gabinius,  interfered,  and  the 
forces  of  Aristobulus  were  defeated,  and  he  and  his  son 
made  prisoners  and  sent  back  to  Eome.  In  the  commu- 
nication, however,  accompanying  them,  Gabinius  made 
such  a  representation  of  the  service  of  the  mother  in  sup- 
pressing Alexander's  insurrection,  that  the  senate  liberated 
all  the  family  but  Aristobulus  himself.  In  the  follow- 
ing year  Crassus,  the  associate  triumvir  with  Csesar  and 
Pompey,  succeeded  Gabinius  in  the  government  of  Syria; 


400  THE     ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

and  immediately  after  Lis  arrival  in  Judaea,  he  marched  to 
Jerusalem  with  a  body  of  soldiers,  and  plundered  the 
Temple  of  the  very  treasures  which  Pompey  had  spared. 
This  sacriligious  act  was,  however,  awfully  punished  in 
the  following  year  by  the  terrible  overthrow  and  death 
which  the  triumvir  met  with  in  the  war  with  the  Parthians. 

When  the  civil  war,  in  49  A.  C,  commenced  between 
Pompey  and  Csesar,  the  latter,  in  order  to  counteract  the 
influence  of  his  rival  in  Syria,  liberated  Aristobalus  and 
sent  him  into  Judaea  with  two  Roman  legions  to  regain  his 
crown.  But  on  his  way  thither  he  was  pursued  by  some 
of  Pompey's  friends ;  and  his  son  Alexander,  who  had 
begun  to  raise  troops  to  aid  his  father  in  his  enterprise, 
was  soon  after  seized,  carried  to  Antioch,  and  after  a  mock 
trial,  beheaded.  In  47  A.  C,  two  years  after,  Antigonus, 
the  younger  son  of  Aristobulus,  })resented  himself  before 
Caesar,  as  he  was  returning  through  Judciea  from  his  Egyp- 
tian campaign,  and  solicited  to  be  restored  to  the  princi- 
pality of  his  father.  He  bitterly  inveighed  against  both 
Hyrcanus  and  Antipater;  but  the  latter  being  now  with 
Caesar,  so  satisfactorily  defended  himself  and  Hyrcanus, 
that  the  application  and  accusations  of  Antigonus  were 
equally  disregarded,  and  Hyrcanus  was  confirmed  in  the 
priesthood,  and  his  princely  dignities. 

The  real  power  in  Judaea  was,  however,  at  this  time, 
held  by  Antipater ;  and  though  he  governed  in  the  name 
of  Hyrcanus,  yet  everything  was  done  to  farther  his  own 
views  and  purposes.  He  had  already  been  admitted  to 
the  dignity  of  Roman  citizenship,  and  he  was  now  appoint- 
ed procurator  of  Judaea  which  invested  him  with  all  the 
important  powers  of  the  state.  The  walls  of  Jerusalem, 
which  had  been  demolished  by  Pompey,  were  now  rebuilt ; 
and  such  other  favors  were,  through  Antipater's  influence, 
extended  to  the  Jews,  that,  during  the  life  of  Caesar,  thj 


THE     ASAMONEANS.  401 

Roman  yoke  was  scarcely  felt.  Availing  himself  of  the 
advantages  of  his  position  as  procurator,  and  his  influence 
with  Caesar,  Antipater  at  once  raised  his  two  sons,  Pha- 
sael  and  Herod,  to  stations  of  trust  and  distinction.  The 
former  he  made  governor  of  Jerusalem,  and  the  latter,  of 
Galilee. 

Herod,  though  only  twenty-five  years  of  age,  was  no 
sooner  settled  in  his  government  than  he  undertook  the 
destruction  of  the  bands  of  daring  robbers  by  which  his 
province  was  infested.  His  sovereign  and  arbitrary  pro- 
ceedings, however,  so  displeased  the  Sanhedrim,  that  they 
summoned  him  to  Jerusalem  to  give  an  account  of  his 
conduct.  He  appeared  before  that  august  tribunal  clothed 
in  purple,  and  attended  by  a  numerous  retinue ;  and  such 
was  his  haughty  and  imperious  carriage,  that  he  intimi- 
dated the  whole  assembly,  with  the  exception  of  Sameas, 
one  of  its  chief  counsellors.  By  a  calm  and  dignified 
address,  this  venerable  man  rekindled  their  resentment 
both  at  his  past  and  present  conduct ;  and  Hyrcanus,  who 
was  much  attached  to  Herod,  perceiving  this,  adjourned 
the  assembly;  and  through  the  advice  of  that  prince, 
Herod  escaped  from  the  city  during  the  following  night, 
and  went  to  Sextus  Caesar,  at  Damascus,  who  bestowed 
upon  him  the  government  of  Coele-Syria.  Herod  now 
raised  an  army  and  entered  Judaea,  firmly  resolved  to 
march  to  Jerusalem,  punish  the  Sanhedrim,  and  depose 
Hyrcanus;  but  he  was  persuaded  by  his  father  and  brother 
to  desist  from  his  revengeful  purpose. 

After  the  assassination  of  Julius  Caesar,  Cassius  repaired 
to  the  eastern  provinces  of  the  Koman  empire,  and  was 
obliged  to  levy  heavy  contributions  to  maintain  his  vast 
army.  Judaea  was  assessed  seven  hundred  talents ;  and 
Antipater,  as  procurator,  commissioned  Herod  to  raise 
one  half  of  the  sum,  and  Malichus,  one  of  the  principal 


402  THE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS 

supporters  of  Hyrcanus,  the  other.  Herod  advanced  him- 
self greatly  in  the  favor  of  Cassius  by  the  ready  payment 
of  his  portion ;  but  Malichus  being  more  dilatory,  would 
have  been  put  to  death,  had  not  Hyrcanus  saved  him  by 
paying  a  hundred  talents  out  of  his  own  coffers.  This 
affair  increased  the  jealousy  with  which  Malichus  and 
other  leading  Jews  regarded  the  power  and  authority 
which  Antipater  was  daily  acquiring  over  the  nation. 
They,  therefore,  resolved  to  destroy  him  and  his  whole 
family ;  and  soon  after,  he  was  poisoned  with  a  glass  of 
wine,  given  to  him  by  the  high-priest's  brother  at  an  enter- 
tainment in  the  palace.  Malichus,  through  the  influence 
of  Herod  with  Cassius,  was  soon  after  murdered  at  Tyre 
by  the  Eoman  soldieis ;  and,  though  the  party  of  which 
be  had  been  the  head,  countenanced  by  Hyrcanus  himself, 
still  made  a  desperate  struggle  to  retrieve  themselves  from 
the  power  of  Antipater's  sons,  yet  they  entirely  failed,  and 
their  failure  only  contributed  to  increase  the  strength  of 
Herod  and  Phasael.  Herod  noAv  bitterly  upbraided  Hyr- 
canus for  the  part  he  had  taken  in  this  affair;  but  he  did 
not  come  to  any  open  rupture  with  him,  as  he  wished,  by 
a  mari'iage  with  Mariamne,  the  beautiful  and  accomplished 
grand-daughter  of  the  high-priest,  to  bring  into  his  own 
family  the  claims  of  the  Asamonean  house. 

The  party  opposed  to  Herod  and  Phasael  soon  found 
another  and  more  dangerous  leader  than  Malichus  had 
been,  in  the  person  of  Antigonus,  the  younger  son  of  Aris- 
tobulus.  At  the  head  of  a  very  considerable  army,  he 
came  to  claim  his  father's  throne ;  but  soon  after  he 
arrived  in  Judaia  he  was  entirely  defeated  by  Herod,  and 
obliged,  for  the  time,  to  abandon  his  enterprise.  In  the 
folio  A'ing  year,  42  A.  C,  after  the  decisive  battle  of  Phi- 
lippic Mark  Antony  passed  over  into  Asia,  to  secure  that 
important  region  to  the  conquerers.      Having  served  in 


THE     ASAMONEANS.  403 

Syria  before,  he  was  well  acquainted  with  the  Jewish  peo- 
ple and  their  leaders ;  and,  therefore,  when  a  deputation 
of  a  hundred  influential  Jews  came  to  him  at  Daphne,  near 
Antioch,  with  complaints  against  the  usurping  sons  of 
Antipater,  he  readily  gave  them  a  hearing.  After  listen- 
ing patiently  to  their  complaints,  Antony  turned  to  Hyr- 
canus,  who  was  present,  and  asked  him  whom  he  thought 
most  worthy  to  govern  the  state  under  him.  Hyrcanus, 
to  the  general  surprise  of  the  deputation,  immediately 
named  Phasael  and  Herod ;  and  Antony,  who  well 
remembered  the  services  of  Antipater,  accordingly,  raised 
the  two  brothers  to  the  rank  of  tetrarchs,  and  committed 
the  affairs  of  Judaea  to  their  administration. 

The  Parthians  soon  after  gained  temporary  possession 
of  Syria;  and  Antigonus,  who  was  far  from  being  dis- 
heartened by  his  late  reverses,  engaged  their  assistance  by 
the  promise  of  a  thousand  talents,  and  five  hundred  Jew- 
ish female  slaves.  He  now  advanced,  at  the  head  of  a 
powerful  army,  against  Jerusalem,  and  by  desperate 
efforts,  succeeded  in  recovering  his  kingdom.  Herod 
managed  to  escape  the  conquerer ;  but  Hyrcanus  and 
Phasael  were  made  prisoners  and  thrown  into  a  dungeon. 
Phasael,  apprehending  his  fate,  dashed  his  own  brains  out 
against  the  prison  walls ;  and  Antigonus  cruelly  cropped 
liis  aged  uncle's  ears,  in  order  to  unfit  him  for  the  high- 
priesthood  :  he  then  committed  him  to  the  care  of  the 
Parthians,  who  took  him  to  Seleucia,  in  Babylonia.  In 
the  mean  time  Herod  found  his  way  to  Kome ;  and  was 
soon  after,  through  the  influence  of  his  friend  Antony, 
whom  he  there  found  in  the  zenith  of  his  glory,  crowned 
in  the  capital,  king  of  Judaea,  with  the  full  approbation  of 
both  Octavius  and  the  senate. 

Though  thus  publicly  recognized  at  Eome  as  king  of 
Judaea,  Plerod  had  still  to  gain  possession  of  his  kingdom, 


404  THE     ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

which  he  found  not  an  easy  task ;  for,  though  the  Eomans 
were  again  masters  of  Syria,  yet  the  assistance  they  could 
now  afford  him  did  him  more  harm  than  good.  The  war, 
therefore,  lingered  on  with  various  success  for  nearly  three 
years ;  and  at  the  expiration  of  that  time,  finding  that  he 
had  tolerably  well  secured  Galilee  and  Samaria,  he  resolved 
to  lead  his  forces  against  Jerusalem.  While  engaged  in 
the  siege  of  that  city,  Herod  consummated  his  marriage 
with  Mariamne,  whom  he  had  espoused  four  years  before — 
hoping,  by  this  step,  to  reconcile  the  Jewish  people  to  his 
government.  The  siege  advanced  but  slowly,  until  Herod 
was  joined  by  Sosius,  the  president  of  Syria,  whom  An- 
tony had  sent  to  his  assistance  with  so  considerable  a  force 
as  to  raise  the  investing  army  to  sixty  thousand  men. 
After  a  vigorous  siege  of  six  months,  the  city  was  taken 
by  storm ;  and  the  obstinacy  of  their  resistance  so  exas- 
perated the  Roman  soldiers  that  they  pillaged  the  place, 
massacred  the  inhabitants  without  mercy,  and  would  have 
utterly  destroyed  the  city,  had  not  Herod  ransomed  it  with 
gold. 

As  soon  as  Antigonus  saw  that  all  was  lost,  he  surren- 
dered himself  a  prisoner  to  Sosius ;  and,  showing  less  of 
the  hero  than  had  beeuv  anticipated,  he  was  treated  by  the 
Roman  commander  with  utter  contempt.  Being  sent  in 
chains  to  Antioch,  he  was  there,  soon  after,  at  the  desire 
of  Herod,  put  to  death  with  a  degree  of  contumely  that 
never  had  before  been  shown  to  a  crowned  head.  With 
his  death  terminated  the  Asamonean  dynasty,  after  an 
existence  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-six  years,  and  in  37 
A.  C.  While  their  leaders  were  contending  with  the  for- 
eign enemies  of  their  country,  the  smile  of  Divine  favoi 
attended  them ;  but  when  their  quarrels  became  domestic, 
the  Almighty  permitted  them  speedily  to  work  out  their 
own  destruction.      Still,  to  the  very  last,  the  great  mass 


THE     ASAMONEANS.  405 

of  the  Jewish  people  evinced  the  most  devoted,  and  even 
obstinate  attachment  to  the  family ;  and  it  was  because 
nothing  would  induce  them  to  acknowledge  a  king  of  an- 
other family,  while  Antigonus  lived,  that  Herod  resolved 
to  procure  his  death. 


146  B.C. 


IX.    ROMAN    PERIOD. 


70  A.D. 


THE  WEST. 


146 


(1) 


Fall  of  Corinth. 


The  Gracchi 

(133-121). 
Scipio  (d.  129). 


JUGURTHINE  WaR 

(l  12-106). 


Marius  (d.  86). 
SuUa  (d.  78). 


IstTRimiVIRATE 
Caesar,  Pompey, 
and  Crassus  (60). 

Pharsalia  (48). 

Caesar  dictator. 

His  death  (44). 

^2d  TRIDMVIRATK 

Octavius,  Antony 

Lepidus. 

ACTIUM  (31). 

Augustus  (30). 
Virgil. 
Horace. 

LiVY. 

Ovid. 

Strabo. 
Tiberius  (14). 

Seneca. 

Propertius. 

Persius. 

Caligula  (37). 
Claudius  (41). 
Pliny. 
Nero  (54). 
Jevenal. 
Galba  (68). 
Vespasian. 


THE   HEBREWS   IN  ROME. 


FALL  OF  CARTHAGE,  146  B.C. 


2,>   I 

2.0  o 

5539-' 

O-  J2- 


S3  p 

SO 

1?: 

^  0! 

o  ■ 


a- 
n>S 


Jonathan  H. 

(161). 

Simon  HI.  (143)- 

John  Hyrcanus 

(135)- 

KINGDOM 

(111) 

iKzngs) 

Anstobulus  I. 

(107). 

OF  THE 

Alexander  (105). 

Alexandra  (79). 

Aristobulus  (70). 

MACCABEES. 

Hyrcanus  11.(63). 

Pompey  makes 

Judrea  a  Roman 

province  (63  B.C.)| 
John  Hyrcanus 

(63). 


Herod  (40-4). 


PALESTINE 


Archelaus  (4  B.C.)  ( 
Birth  of  Christ 

(4  B.C.) 

(Governors.) 
Coponius  (7  A.D.)  ( 
Mar.  Ambivius. 
Annius  Ruf'us. 

A  ROMAN 

Val.  Gratus  (14)- 

Pilate  (25-35)- 

John  the  Baptist. 

The  Crucifixion  I 

(33  A.D.) 

Herod  Antipas 

(35). 
Herod  Agrippa 

(37V 
PROVINCE. 

Agrippa(vounger)  ( 

(44). 

Jerusalem  taken ' 
by  Titus  (70)^   ' 


(SI   CL, 


o-  5 

T3  W 

On" 


p  n  " 
2  eg 

•  5'h 


Bt'S.o 

io? 


THE  EAST. 


Ptolemy  VHI.      146 
Demetrius  H. 


Antiochus  Grypus. 

Mithridates  VI. 

(120-64). 

Ptolemy  IX.  (117), 


Seleucus  (95). 

INIithradatic  War 

(87-64). 


Q    O 

Is 

n  sr 

u 

:i.o 

w  0 

^'? 

WQ 

01  (D 


JERFSALEM  TAKllN.  ' 

AND   FINAL   DISPERSION    OF 


0   A.D.. 
THr?.  JEWS. 


Ptolemy  X. 


Syria  conquered 
by  Pompey  (63). 

Cleopatra  (51). 

Philippi  (bat.  42) 

Egypt  conquered 
by  Rome  (30). 

Herod  rebuilds 
Samaria. 

Herod  plunders 
the  temple  (9). 
Death  of  Herod 

(4  B.C.) 


Christ  reasons  with 
the  doctors  (8), 


Philo  of  Alexandria. 

The  Apostles. 
Herod's  persecu- 
tion (41). 
Kew  Testament. 
Paul  in  Jerusalem, 

Greece  and  Rome 

(45-66). 

Persecution  by 
Nero  (64). 

JosEPHUs  (37-93")' 


(1) 


70 


CHAPTER     THE     NINTH 
DYNASTY   OF   HEROD. 

SECTION  I. 

Herod  the  Great:— His  cruel  and  sanguinary  disposition— Death 
of  Hyrcanus  and  Aristobulus — Octavius  master  of  the  Roman  Em- 
pire— Herod  reconciled  to  him,  and  confirmed  in  the  Kingdom  of 
Judaea — Death  of  Alexandra,  and  his  wife,  Mariamne — His  prefer- 
ence for  Grecian  and  Roman  customs — Two  of  his  sons  sent  to 
Rome,  to  be  educated — Rebuilding  of  Samaria,  and  building  of 
Csesarea — The  new  Temple,  and  other  magnificent  buildings— Mis- 
understanding with  Augustus — General  Taxation — Birth  of  Jesus 
Christ — Herod's  awful  death. 

Herod,  surnamed  the  Great,  ascended  the  throne  of 
Jiidsea  37  A.  C,  and  in  the  thirty- third  year  of  his  age. 
The  son  of  Antipater,  he  was  an  Idumaean  by  extraction ; 
and  though  a  Jew  by  profession,  he  was  really  a  heathen 
at  heart.  He  commenced  his  reign  by  an  unrelenting 
persecution  of  the  former  adherents  of  Antigonus,  the  most 
affluent  of  whom  were  put  to  death  and  their  estates 
openly  confiscated. 

The  cruelty  which  Herod  thus  manifested  in  the  very 
beginning  of  his  reign,  rendered  both  his  person  and  his 
government  hateful  to  the  Jews ;  and  this  hatred  rose  to 
abhorrence  when  the  objects  of  the  people's  aflfections,  the 
last  remains  of  the  noble  house  of  the  Asamoneans,  be- 
came the  victims  of  his  murderous  acts.  Old  Hyrcanus, 
who  had  been  exiled  to  Babylonia,  and  was  there  treated 
with  the  greatest  respect,  both  by  the  influential  Jews  who 
resided  in  that  country,  and  by  the  Parthians  themselves, 
was  induced,  by  his  deceptions,  to  return  to  Jerusalem. 
For  a  short  time  after  his  arrival  in  his  native  city,  Herod 


408  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

treated  him  with  apparent  respect,  and  even  deference  ;  but 
no  sooner  did  a  convenient  opportunity  offer,  than  he 
caused  him  to  he  inhumanly  put  to  death.  This  base  act 
occurred  in  31  A.  C;  and  when  we  remember  what 
Hyrcanus  had  been  to  both  Herod  and  his  father  An- 
tipater,  the  cruelty  of  the  deed  must  appear  beyond  ex- 
pression great. 

The  lineal  representative  of  the  Asamonean  house, 
after  the  death  of  Hyrcanus,  was  Aristobulus,  the  brother 
of  Herod's  beloved  wife,  Mariamne.  This  child  soon  grew 
up  to  be  a  youth  of  extraordinary  beauty  and  promise,  and 
was  naturally  hateful  to  Herod  ;  but  his  life  and  welfare 
were  supposed  to  be  suiRciently  protected  by  his  near  re- 
lationship to  Mariamne.  His  right  to  the  high-priesthood, 
which  Herod  had  bestowed  upon  an  obscure  priest  of  the 
name  of  Ananel,  Avas  unquestioned ;  and  when  the  king 
perceived  that  it  was  unsafe  longer  to  withhold  the  pon- 
tificate from  him,  he  removed  Ananel,  and  placed  Aristo- 
bulus, who  was  then  only  seventeen  years  of  age,  in  that 
exalted  office.  When  he  appeared  in  his  gorgeous  pon 
tifical  robes  at  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles,  the  assembled 
multitude  could  not  restrain  an  expression  of  their  admira- 
tion and  delight ;  and  that  expression  of  public  affection 
sealed  his  doom.  Aristobulus  was  soon  after  drowned,  as 
was  said,  "  by  accident,"  while  bathing,  at  Jericho ;  but 
the  whole  nation  knew  that  it  was  Herod's  act,  and  saw 
through  the  show  of  mourning,  and  the  parade  of  grief 
which  he  displayed  on  the  occasion. 

The  circumstances  attending  the  death  of  Aristobulus 
having  been  communicated  by  his  mother,  Alexandra,  to 
Cleopatra,  queen  of  Egypt,  the  latter  induced  Antony,  who 
was  then  at  her  court,  to  order  Herod  to  appear  before  him 
and  vindicate  himself  against  the  charge  of  the  murder. 
Herod,  with  large  gifts,  soon  appeased  the  wrath  of  An- 


DYNASTY     OF     HEROD.  409 

tony ;  but  before  he  left  Jerusalem  to  meet  the  great 
Roman,  his  jealousy  led  him  to  place  Mariamne,  whom  he 
devotedly  loved,  in  the  charge  of  his  uncle  Joseph,  with 
strict  directions,  that  should  he  be  put  to  death,  she  must 
not  be  permitted  to  survive  him.  This  order  Joseph 
inadvertently  communicated  to  Mariamne;  and  upon 
Herod's  return,  that  virtuous  and  high-spirited  princess 
bitterly  reproached  him  for  his  unfounded  suspicions  of 
her.  This  threw  Herod  into  so  great  a  rage  that  he  drew 
his  dagger  and  would  have  murdered  her  on  the  spot;  but 
his  ardent  affection  for  her  proved  her  protection,  though 
to  appease  his  wrath  he  ordered  his  uncle  Joseph  to  be 
instantly  executed. 

In  31  A.  C,  while  these  scenes  were  passing  in  Judaea, 
the  decisive  battle  of  Actium  occurred  between  Antony 
and  Octavius  ;  and  as,  in  that  action,  the  power  of  the 
former  was  entirely  prostrated,  he  fled  to  Egypt,  to  con- 
sole himself  in  the  caresses  of  the  treacherous  Cleopatra. 
Thither  Octavius  immediately  pursued  him ;  and  as  An- 
tony's death,  by  his  own  hand,  soon  followed,  his  rival 
was  left  master  of  the  whole  Roman  empire.  It  now  be- 
came Herod,  who  had  hitherto  been  attached  to  the  for- 
tunes of  Antony,  to  seek  reconciliation  with  Octavius ;  and 
with  this  view  he  repaired  to  Alexandria,  in  Egypt,  where 
the  conquerer  then  was,  and  so  artfully  excused  himself 
for  his  attachment  to  Antony,  that  Octavius  not  only 
granted  him  a  free  pardon,  but  confirmed  him  in  his  gov- 
ernment and  authority. 

Herod  returned  from  Egypt  flushed  with  his  success 
with  Octavius ;  but  he  found  that,  during  his  absence,  his 
domestic  troubles  had  only  increased.  He  had,  before  his 
departure  thither,  left  Mariamne  in  the  charge  of  Sohemus, 
with  similar  directions  to  those  which  he  had  given,  on  the 
previous  occasion,  to  his  uncle  Joseph.  When  he,  therefore, 
18 


410  ^  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

immediately  after  his  arrival  in  Jerusalem,  exultingly  flei?» 
to  her  embrace,  she  repulsed  him  with  abhorrence,  and  up- 
braided him,  not  only  with  his  treatment  of  herself,  but 
also  with  the  murder  of  her  grand-father,  her  father,  her 
brother,  and  her  uncle.  Herod's  rage  and  jealousy  now 
knew  no  bounds ;  for  he  perceived  that  his  secret  had 
again  been  betrayed,  and  he  therefore  caused  Sohemas  to 
be  immediately  executed,  and  Mariamne  brought  to  a 
public  trial.  As  the  judges  were  his  own  creatures  she 
was,  of  course,  condemned ;  but  no  sooner  had  the  magnani- 
mous and  virtuous  woman  perished,  thaa  Herod's  remorse 
and  grief  became  intolerable.  He  found  no  rest  day  nor 
night ;  for  wherever  he  went^  the  image  of  Mariamne 
haunted  him,  and  filled  his  mind  with  anguish  so  bitter, 
that  it  eventually  resulted  in  fits  of  temporary  insanity. 
He,  therefore,  relinquished  all  the  cares  of  government  and 
retired  to  Samaria,  soon  after  which  he  was  seized  with  so 
dangerous  a  fit  of  sickness  that  his  life  was  despaired  of. 
Alexandra,  supposing  that  his  death  was  certain,  began  to 
intrigue  for  the  supreme  power,  under  the  pretext  of 
securing  the  government  for  Mariamne' s  children ;  but 
Herod  imexpectedly  recovering,  returned  to  Jerusalem, 
and  ordered  her  immediate  execution.  Thus  perished,  in 
28  A.  C,  Alexandra,  the  mother  of  the  beautiful  and 
accomplished  Mariamne. 

Aware  that  these  repeated  and  sanguinary  murders  had 
awakened  the  bitterest  antipathies  of  the  Jews  towards 
him,  Herod  now  began  to  treat  both  their  religion  and 
their  laws  with  utter  neglect.  Not  being  a  Levite  him- 
self, nor  even  by  birth  a  Jew,  he  did  not  venture  to  seize 
the  high-priesthood ;  but  he  degraded  that  sacred  office 
by  subjecting  it  entirely  to  his  will,  appointing  and  removing 
the  high-priests  at  his  pleasure.  He  even  so  far  inclined  to 
the  Roman  customs  and  practices,  that  he  gave  them  everyr 


DYNASTY      OF     HEROD.  411 

where  a  preference  to  those  of  his  own  country ;  and  in  all 
parts  of  his  kingdom  except  in  Judaea,  he  built  temples  in 
the  Grecian  style  of  art,  and  set  up  statues  for  idolatrous 
worship.  He  even  went  so  far  as  to  build  in  the  very  city  of 
Jerusalem,  a  magnificent  theatre,  and  an  amphitheatre,  for 
the  celebration  of  games  in  honor  of  the  emperor  Augus- 
tus ;  which,  it  is  well  known,  implied  the  deification  of 
the  person  in  whose  honor  the  games  were  celebrated. 
By  such  means  he  soon  imparted  the  luxuries  and  vices 
of  the  licentious  Komans  to  his  own  subjects. 

These  measures  of  Herod,  so  offensive,  and  even  insult- 
ing, to  the  great  body  of  the  Jewish  people,  produced 
numerous  conspiracies  against  his  life ;  to  guard  against 
■which  required  the  greatest  vigilance  and  activity,  and  led 
to  the  building  and  fortifying  of  other  strongholds  be- 
sides Jerusalem.  The  first  place  selected  for  this  purpose 
was  Samaria,  which,  since  its  destruction  by  John  Hyrca- 
nus,  had  not  risen  beyond  a  small  village.  The  place 
being  rebuilt,  and  the  fortifications  completed,  Herod 
named  it  Sebaste,  in  honor  of  his  patron  Augustus — Sehastos, 
in  Greek,  being  equivalent  to  Augustus,  in  Latin.  Here  he 
planted  a  colony  of  six  thousand  people,  among  whom  he 
divided  the  surrounding  country,  which,  being  very  fertile, 
the  place  soon  became  rich  and  populous. 

The  great  work  of  rebuilding  and  repeopling  Samaria 
was  scarcely  completed,  before  Judaea  was  visited  by 
a  famine  and  pestilence,  so  severe,  as  to  sweep  oflP  vast 
numbers  of  the  inhabitants.  To  relieve  those  that  escaped, 
Herod  resorted  to  the  popular  and  praiseworthy  act  of 
melting  down  and  turning  into  money  the  plate  of  his 
palace,  and  sending  to  Egypt  to  purchase  corn.  The 
quantity  of  food  thus  obtained  was  so  abundant,  as  amply 
10  supply  all  the  wants,  not  only  of  his  own  subjects,  but 
also  of  the  neighboring  Syrians  who  were  suffering  under 


412  THE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

the  same  calamity.  As  the  same  cause  which  had  deprived 
his  people  of  the  means  of  subsistence,  had  also  cut  off 
their  flocks,  a  scarcity  of  wool  for  clothing  was  the  conse- 
quence ;  and  Herod,  therefore,  caused  large  quantities  of 
garments  to  be  imported  from  foreign  countries  to  supply 
the  deficiency.  These  acts  of  generous  care  for  the  wel- 
fare of  the  people  greatly  won  upon  their  affections,  and 
acquired  for  the  king,  among  surrounding  nations,  the 
reputation  of  a  wise  and  beneficent  prince ;  and  had  it  not 
been  for  his  excessive  pride  and  jealousy,  doubtless,  more 
frequent  instances  of  such  noble  conduct  would  have  been 
exhibited  by  him. 

The  relief  which  the  occupation  of  rebuilding  Samaria 
had  afforded  to  Herod's  troubled  mind,  together  with  the 
prosperous  condition  of  the  country  and  the  present  favor- 
able state  of  the  public  mind  towards  him,  induced  him 
now  to  increase  the  magnificence  of  various  parts  of  his 
kingdom,  by  other  important  improvements.  The  first  of 
these  was  a  stately  palace  on  Mount  Zion,  the  most  ele- 
vated part  of  Jerusalem.  The  splendor  and  magnificence 
of  this  edifice  was  such  as  to  rival  even  the  Temple  itself. 
It  contained,  besides  many  other  apartments,  two  spacious 
halls  much  more  sumptuous  than  the  rest ;  and  to  one  of 
these  he  gave  the  name  of  Ccesareum,  in  honor  of  Augus- 
tus, and  to  the  other  Agrippeum,  in  honor  of  Agrippa, 
the  emperor's  chief  favorite.  This  city  palace  was  no 
Eooner  completed,  than  Herod  commenced  the  building  of 
another  for  his  country  residence,  on  a  beautiful  hill  about 
seven  miles  from  Jerusalem ;  and  when  the  structure  was 
completed,  he  named  it  Herodium,  after  himself.  He  next 
turned  his  attention  towards  the  building  of  a  city  on  the 
sea-coast,  at  a  place  called  Straton's  Toiver,  the  name  of 
which  he  changed  to  Cccsarea,  in  honor  of  Caesar.  The 
harbor  of  this  place,  though  the  best  on   the  coast,  had 


DYNASTY     OF     HEROD.  413 

hitherto  been  so  dangerous,  that  when  the  wind  was  from 
the  south-west  no  ship  could  ride  in  it  in  safety ;  but  by 
running  a  mole  of  circular  form  in  that  direction,  he  made 
it  safe  and  commodious,  and  sufficiently  capacious  to  ac- 
commodate a  large  fleet.  The  expense  of  this  mole,  or 
break-water,  was  enormous ;  for  many  of  the  stones  used 
in  its  construction,  were  brought  from  a  great  distance,  and 
were  of  almost  incredible  dimensions — some  of  them  be- 
ing fifty  feet  long,  eighteen  feet  broad,  and  nine  feet  thick. 

In  21  A.  C,  while  Herod  was  engaged  in  these  magni- 
ficent works  at  Caesarea,  the  emperor  Augustus  visited  the 
East ;  and  when  he  arrived  at  Antioch,  Herod  waited  upon 
nim,  and  was  received  with  the  most  flattering  kindness. 
As  additional  marks  of  his  favor  the  emperor,  before  he 
left  the  East,  increased  Herod's  dominions,  by  the  addi- 
tion of  the  provinces  of  Trachonitis,  Auranitis,  and  Ba 
tanasa;  and  he  also  made  him  tetrarch  of  Syria,  with  such 
powers  that  the  governor  of  that  important  country  under 
took  no  enterprise  without  his  concurrence.  Alex^ider 
and  Aristobulus,  the  sons  of  Herod  by  Mariamne,  were 
soon  after  sent  to  Kome  to  be  educated.  They  were  com 
mitted  to  the  particular  care  of  PoUio,  an  intimate  friend ; 
but  Augustus,  as  soon  as  he  heard  of  their  arrival,  caused 
them,  as  a  special  mark  of  friendship  to  their  father,  to  be 
removed  to  apartments  in  his  own  palace,  and  treated  as 
members  of  the  imperial  family. 

In  19  A.  C,  after  having  been  employed  twelve  years 
in  the  work,  Herod  completed  the  building  of  Caesarea 
and  returned  to  Jerusalem.  Pride  and  ambition,  and  not 
piety  or  zeal,  now  led  him  to  conceive  the  design  of  re- 
building the  Temple,  in  hopes  of  conciliating,  by  this  mea- 
sure, the  affections  of  the  Jewish  people,  by  whom  he  had 
always  been  secretly  held  in  detestation.  He,  therefore 
called  them  together  in   general  assembly,  and  informed 


414  THE     ANCIENT     HEBKEWS- 

them  of  what  he  proposed  to  do ;  but  they  were  alarmecf 
at  his  proposal,  fearing  that  when  he  had  destroyed  the 
old  building,  he  would  refuse  to  erect  another.  To  quiet 
their  fears,  and  to  obtain  their  consent  to  the  project,  he, 
therefore  promised  not  to  begin  to  remove  the  old  Temple 
till  all  the  materials  for  the  new  one  were  prepared.  The 
preparations  for  this  important  work  occupied  two  years ; 
and  at  the  expiration  of  that  time  the  old  building  was 
pulled  down,  and  the  new  one  commenced. 

The  building  of  the  new  Temple  was  begun  in  18  A.  C, 
and  in  the  twenty-third  year  of  Herod's  reign  ;  and  though 
all  the  materials  had  been  previously  prepared  and  brought 
to  the  spot,  yet  such  was  the  splendor  of  the  structure, 
that  for  nine  and  a-half  years  eighteen  thousand  men  were 
employed  upon  it,  without  completing  the  work.  The 
sanctuary,  or  the  actual  Temple  itself,  was  finished  in  a 
year  and  a-half;  and  the  rest  of  the  pile,  with  its  courts, 
porticoes,  offices,  and  outer  buildings,  were  sufficiently  far 
advanced  during  the  eight  following  years  for  the  usual  ser- 
vices of  religion ;  but  the  whole  work  was  not  finished  till 
long  after  the  death  of  Herod.  This  was  the  Temple  which 
Christ  and  his  apostles  so  often  visited  ;  and  it  seems  to 
have  been,  in  many  respects,  a  much  more  magnificent 
pile  than  the  Temple  built  by  Solomon,  though  it  may  not 
have  equalled  that  celebrated  structure  in  its  wealth  of 
gold.  It  was  built  of  large  blocks  of  white  marble ;  and, 
rising  in  all  its  grandeur  from  the  summit  of  an  eminence, 
it  formed  the  most  conspicuous  object,  in  a  general  view,  of 
the  city,  and  excited  the  admiration  of  all  beholders. 
The  exterior  was  covered  profusely  with  solid  plates  of 
gold;  and  when  the  rays  of  the  sun  were  reflected  .from  it, 
it  shone  like  a  meteor,  upon  which  the  eye  could  not 
rest.  The  noble  porticoes,  which  surrounded  the  Temple 
''^nrts,  also  excited  no   small  share  of  admiring  wonder. 


From  '^Zife  of  Jesus,  the  Christ,''  by  IRev.  Jlenry  Jrard  Seecher, 


SOUTH. 

PLAN  AND  SECTION  OF  THE  TEMPLE:. 


■     DYNASTY     OF     HEROD.  415 

Incalculable  wealth  was  expended  upon  tliem,  and  tlie  most 
refined  taste  was  gratified  by  grace  of  form  and  proportion, 
by  vast  extent,  by  costliness  of  materials,  and  by  every 
variety  of  beauty  of  embellishment  which  imagination 
could  devise,  or  art  execute. 

Besides  the  Temple  and  other  great  works  already 
mentioned,  Herod  built  so  many  new  cities  in  Judsea,  and 
restored  so  many  old  ones,  constructed  so  many  bridges, 
roads,  baths,  and  aqueducts,  that  the  whole  country  under 
his  reign  assumed  a  new  aspect.  Nor  did  he  confine  his 
munificence  to  his  own  dominions ;  but  with  a  view  to 
spread  a  report  of  his  magnificence  through  the  Roman 
empire,  he  surrounded  many  foreign  cities  with  walls, 
built  within  them  porticoes,  gymnasiums,  theatres,  tem- 
ples, baths,  bazaars,  and  aqueducts,  besides  adorning  them 
with  the  most  beautiful  groves.  Such  works  justly  entitle 
Herod  to  the  epithet  great;  but  for  all  of  them,  with  the 
exception  of  the  Temple,  the  people,  while  they  groaned 
under  the  exactions  which  their  cost  required,  could  be 
little  grateful  to  him. 

During  these  extensive  improvements  in  his  own  and 
surrounding  countries,  Herod,  in  16  A.  C,  went  to  Rome, 
to  pay  his  respects  to  Augustus,  and  to  visit  his  sons 
Alexander  and  Aristobulus.  He  was  received  by  the  empe- 
ror with  great  kindness,  and  with  every  mark  of  distinction 
to  which,  from  his  exalted  position,  he  was  entitled  ;  and 
finding  that  his  sons'  education  was  now  completed,  he  soon 
after  carried  them  back  with  him  to  Judsea.  In  the  course 
of  the  following  year  Alexander  married  Glaphyra,  the 
daughter  of  Archelaus,  king  of  Cappadocia ;  and  Aristo- 
bulus, Berenice,  the  daughter  of  Herod's  own  sister 
Salome.  These  young  men,  in  consequence  of  their  great 
accomplishments,  the  elegance  of  their  persons,  and  the 
agreeableness   of    their   manners,    soon    became   the    ad- 


416  THE      ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

miration  of  all  Jerusalem ;  and  this  was  a  suflBcient 
reason  for  the  wicked,  intriguing  Salome  to  pursue  them 
with  the  same  envy  and  jealousy  which  she  had  always 
shown  towards  their  mother,  Mariamne,  and  which  even- 
tuated in  the  death  of  that  accomplished  princess. 

Salome  and  her  brother  Pheroras,  now  united  their 
eflbrts  to  fill  the  old  king's  mind  with  suspicions  and 
prejudices  against  Alexander  and  Aristobulus — represent- 
ing to  him  that  they  were  perpetually  boasting  of  their 
descent  from  the  great  Asamonean  family,  and  claiming 
the  favor  of  the  people,  as  the  only  surviving  representa- 
tives of  that  illustrious  race.  These  misrepresentations, 
together  with  other  audacious  falsehoods  of  a  similar 
character,  being  perpetually  sounded  into  Herod's  ears, 
they  drove  the  old  tyrant  almost  to  distraction.  He  wrote 
to  Augustus  informing  him  of  the  conduct  of  his  sons,  and 
requesting  permission  to  call  a  council  for  their  public 
trial.  The  permission  was  granted ;  the  council  held,  and 
the  young  men  condemned ;  and  as  the  execution  of  the 
sentence  was  left  to  Herod  himself,  he  sent  them  to  Se- 
baste,  there  to  be  strangled  to  death.  Thus,  through  the 
envy  and  malice  of  a  wicked,  intriguing  woman,  died,  in 
6  A.  C,  the  last  two  representatives  of  the  illustrious 
house  of  the  Asamoneans.  The  year  following  the  death 
of  these  two  accomplished  young  princes,  was  signalized  by 
the  birth  of  John  the  Baptist — the  harbinger  of  the  long- 
promised  Messiah. 

Up  to  this  period  the  friendship  between  Herod  and 
Augustus  had  continued  without  interruption ;  but  a  quar- 
rel between  Herod  and  Obodas,  king  of  Arabia  Petraea, 
was  represented  to  the  emperor  in  such  a  light  as  greatly 
to  incense  him  against  Herod ;  and  he,  therefore,  informed 
that  prince  that  he  should  no  longer  be  treated  as  a  friend, 
but  as  a  subject.     Cyrenius  was,  accordingly,  sent  as  a  com- 


DYNASTY     OF     HEROD.  417 

missioner  into  Judrea  to  register  the  taxable  population, 
with  a  view  to  the  imposition  of  that  capitation  tax  usually 
paid  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  subject  provinces,  but  from 
which  Herod's  dominions  had  hitherto  been  exempted.  The 
registration  was  completed  ;  but  as  proper  explanations, 
in  the  mean  time,  restored  the  good  understanding  between 
Herod  and  the  emperor,  the  tax  itself  was  not  imposed. 

The  decree  of  registration  required  that  the  people 
should  repair  to  their  paternal  towns  to  be  enrolled ;  and 
man}''  persons,  therefore,  who  had  settled  in  other  places, 
were  now  compelled  to  journey  for  this  purpose  to  the 
seat  of  the  families  to  which  they  belonged.  Those  of  the 
house  and  lineage  of  David  repaired  to  Bethlehem  ;  and 
among  them  was  a  carpenter  named  Joseph,  with  his  wife 
Mary,  from  Nazareth,  in  Galilee.  As  the  public  inn  was 
too  much  crowded  by  previous  arrivals  to  aft'ord  them  any 
accommodation,  they  were  compelled  to  lodge  in  the  stable 
which  belonged  to  it.  In  that  unpropitious  place  Mary  gave 
birth  to  a  son,  and  cradled  him  in  the  manger.  That  son 
was  Jesus  Christ,  the  Son  of  God — the  long  promised 
Messiah.  Though  so  humble  his  illustrious  birth,  yet  it 
was  attended  with  such  heavenly  celebration  as  became  its 
importance;  for  hosts  of  rejoicing  angels  chanted  in  mid- 
air over  Bethlehem,  the  anthem  of  Peace  on  earth  and 
GOOD  WILL  TO  MEN,  and  directed  the  shepherds,  who  were 
watching  their  flocks  at  night  on  the  adjacent  plains,  to 
the  birth-place  of  the  Redeemer  of  a  lost  world. 

Soon  after  these  important  events  had  transpired  at 
Bethlehem,  three  sages  from  the  distant  East  arrived  at 
Jerusalem,  inquiring  for  the  new-born  king  of  the  Jews ; 
saying  that  they  "had  seen  his  star,  and  had  come  to 
worship  him."  When  Herod  heard  of  the  arrival  of  these 
strangers,  he  sent  for  them,  and  directed  them  to  ascertain 
th6  birth-place  of  the  "new-born  king,"  and  bring  him 
18* 


418  THE     ANCIENT     HEBRETTS. 

word,  pretending  that  he  also  desired  to  go  and  worship 
him.  The  sages  soon  after  found  the  object  of  their  soli- 
citude in  the  manger  of  Bethlehem ;  but  "  being  warned 
of  God  in  a  dream  that  they  should  not  return  to  Herod, 
they  departed  into  their  own  country  another  way."  The 
jealousy  of  the  old  tyrant  had  been  awakened  by  the  in- 
quiry of  the  sages  for  "  the  king  of  the  Jews ;"  and  as, 
by  their  not  returning  to  Jersalem,  he  was  prevented  from 
distinguishing  the  object  of  their  homage,  he,  in  his  un- 
governable rage  and  inhumanity,  ordered  all  the  children  of 
Bethlehem  under  two  years  of  age  to  be  put  to  death,  trusting 
that  his  intended  victim  w^ould  fall  in  the  general  slaughter. 
Joseph  had,  however,  by  Divine  direction,  previously  taken 
Mary  and  the  infant  into  the  land  of  Egypt ;  and  they  did 
not  return  thence  till  after  Herod's  death. 

The  murder  of  the  innocent  children  of  Bethlehem  filled 
up  the  measure  of  Herod's  iniquity ;  and  he  was,  accord- 
ingly, soon  after  seized  with  a  distemper  that  in  a  few 
weeks  terminated  his  wicked  life.  The  disease  was  of 
such  a  nature  as  not  only  to  bring  upon  him  the  most 
dreadful  tortures,  but  also  to  render  his  person  loathsome 
both  to  himself  and  to  all  by  whom  he  was  surrounded. 
Even  this  severity  of  punishment  was  not  sufficient  to 
subdue  the  natural  ferocity  of  his  temper.  He  was  at 
that  time  at  Jericho,  whither  he  summoned  the  chief  men 
of  his  kingdom  to  attend  him ;  and  being  aware  that  his 
death  would  be  a  cause  of  unutterable  joy  to  the  great 
body  of  the  nation,  he  ordered  that  all  whom  he  had  thus 
brought  together  should  be  confined  in  the  circus,  and  as 
soon  as  his  own  death  should  be  announced,  indiscrimi- 
nately slain.  In  this  inconceivably  barbarous  manner  he 
proposed  to  provide  mourners  for  his  funeral ;  but,  wicked 
as  Salome  his  sister,  and  her  husband  Alexis,  to  whom 
this  order  had  been  given,  were,  they  were  still  not  base 


DYNASTY     OF     HEROD.  419 

enough  to  commit  an  act  of  such  unprecedented  cruelty. 
After  lingering  for  a  few  days  at  Jericho  under  the  most 
exquisite  tortures,  Herod  there  died,  in  the  seventieth 
year  of  his  age,  and  thirty-eighth  of  his  reign — equally 
renowned  for  the  magnitude  of  his  public  works,  and  for 
his  unparalleled  jealousy,  pride,  and  cruelty. 


SECTION    II. 

Herod  Philtp— Herod  Agrippa — Herodias — Division  of  the  King- 
dom of  Herod  the  Great — Archelaus,  King  of  Judsea — His  Cruel- 
ties— His  banishment  and  death — Judaea  a  Roman  Province — Pon- 
tius Pilate — Jesus  Christ — John  the  Baptist — His  Baptism — His 
Imprisonment  and  death— Christ's  public  Ministry — His  Trial  and 
Crucifixion. 

Herod  the  Great  having  had  nine  wives,  left,  at  his 
death,  a  numerous  offspring ;  but  of  these  it  is  necessary 
to  notice  those  only  who  are  mentioned  in  the  Scriptures. 
By  his  wife  Malthace  he  had  Archelaus  and  Herod  Anti* 
pas  ;  by  Cleopatra,  Philip  ;  and  by  his  beloved  Mariamne, 
besides  Alexander  and  Aristobulus,  whom  he  had  caused 
to  be  put  to  death,  he  had  Herod  Philip.  Aristobulus  left 
a  son  called  Herod  Agrippa,  and  a  daughter  named  Hero- 
dias. This  Herod  was  the  prince  who  put  the  apostle 
James  to  death,  and  who  was  soon  after  smitten  of  God 
at  Csesarea  for  his  impious  pride.  Herodias  first  married 
her  uncle,' Herod  Philip;  but  she  afterwards  left  him  and 
became  the  wife  of  Herod  Antipas.  By  Herod  Philip  she 
had  a  daughter  named  Salome,  whose  dancing  was  the 
immediate  cause  of  the  death  of  John  the  Baptist. 
Agrippa,  the  son  of  Aristobulus,  and  grandson  of  Herod 
the  Great,  left  a  son  also  named  Agrippa,  and  two  daugh- 
ters, Drusilla  and  Berenice.     The  former  became  the  wife. 


420  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

of  that  Felix  before  whom  the  apostle  Faul  preached  of 
righteousness,  temperance,  and  judgment  to  come. 

Herod  the  Great,  by  his  will,  divided  his  dominions 
among  his  three  sons,  Archelans,  Herod  Antipas,  and 
Herod  Philip.  To  Archelaus  he  bequeathed  Judsea,  Sa- 
maria, and  Idumaea,  which  properly  constituted  his  king- 
dom ;  to  Antipas  he  left  the  tetrarchy  of  Galilee  and 
Perea ;  and  to  Philip,  the  tetrarchy  of  the  territory 
formed  by  the  districts  of  Trachonitis,  Gaulonitis,  Ba- 
tansea,  and  Paneas.  This  distribution  was  confirmed  by 
Augustus,  though  he  recognized  Archelaus  as  ethnarch 
K.n\j,  and  not  as  king.  The  Jews,  however,  regarded  him 
as  their  sovereign,  and  entertained  the  most  favorable  an- 
ticipations of  his  reign.  But  they  were  sadly  deceived ; 
for  one  of  his  first  public  acts  was  the  refusal  of  some 
popular  demand;  and  to  quiet  the  commotion  which  this 
refusal  produced,  he  ordered  his  soldiers  into  the  Temple, 
and  by  them  thre€  thousand  of  the  people  were  deliber- 
ately put  to  the  sword. 

By  this  and  other  similar  acts  of  cruelty,  Archelaus 
revived  the  general  unpopularity  of  the  government  of 
the  Herodian  family  ;  and,  therefore,  when  those  of  that 
family,  interested  in  the  will  of  the  late  Herod,  repaired 
to  Rome  to  prosecute  their  claims,  the  Jewish  people  also 
sent  thither  a  deputation,  to  petition  that  they  might  no 
longer  be  harassed  by  a  show  of  independence,  but  might 
be  permitted  to  live  according  to  their  own  laws,  under  a 
Roman  governor.  Their  suit  was,  however,  rafused,  ard 
ihe  will  of  Herod  was  confirmed.  This  fruitless  attempt 
of  the  Jews  to  be  relieved  of  the  oppressive  yoke  of 
Archelaus,  only  caused  that  tyrant  to  treat  them  with  the 
greater  severity.  This  naturally  produced  fresh  disor- 
ders; and  for  some  years  the  whole  land  was  kept  in 
oommotion  by  pretenders  to  the  crown,  and  by  powerful 


DYNASTY     OF     HEROD.  421 

bands  of  brigands,  by  whom  communication  between  thfe 
different  parts  of  the  country  was  almost  entirely  inter- 
rupted. The  maladministration  of  Archelaus,  and  his 
unfitness  to  govern,  at  length  became  so  evident,  that  tho 
complaints  constantly  sent  to  Rome  against  him  were  no 
longer  treated  with  neglect ;  and  he  was,  accordingly,  in 
the  tenth  year  of  his  reign,  deposed,  and  banished  to 
Vienne,  in  Gaul. 

Judaea  was  now  reduced  to  the  form  of  a  Roman  pro- 
vince, annexed  to  Syria,  and  governed  by  Roman  procu- 
rators. The  tribute  hitherto  paid  to  the  king  was  hence- 
forth to  be  paid  to  the  Romans  ;  and  justice,  even  to  the 
cases  of  life  and  death,  was  to  be  administered  according 
to  the  laws  of  Rome.  The  procurators  were  appointed  by 
the  emperor,  and  the  place  of  their  residence  was  Csesarea, 
which  now  became  the  capital  of  the  province.  At  the 
great  festivals  the  procurator  usually  went  to  Jerusalem, 
attended  by  some  cohorts  of  soldiers,  in  order  to  be  able 
to  repress  any  disturbance  whicl^  might  arise  in  so  vast  a 
concourse  of  discontented  people.  Six  cohorts  of  Roman 
soldiers  were  constantly  kept  in  the  country,  five  of  which 
were  stationed  at  Ciesarea,  and  one  at  Jerusalem.  The 
duty  of  the  procurator  was,  to  maintain  good  order  in  his 
province,  to  collect  the  imperial  revenues,  and  to  administer 
justice.  Some  of  them  held  independent  jurisdiction, 
while  others  were  d<  pendent  on  the  general  governor  of 
Syria,  whose  residence  was  at  Antioch. 

The  tribute  paid  by  this  arrangement  directly  to  the 
Romans,  was  particularly  galling  to  the  Jews,  many  of 
whom  insisted  that  it  was  "  unlawful"  for  the  chosen  people 
of  God  to  pay  tribute  to  the  heathen.  Those  who  hela 
this  doctrine  were  called  *'  zealots ;"  and  under  this  name 
they  are  to  be  known,  in  the  few  sad  pages  that  remain 
of  Jewish  history.     They  incited  numerous  insurrections 


422  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

against  the  Roman  government,  or  united  in  formidable 
bodies  of  brigands;  and  considering  all  those  Jews  who 
were  willing  to  submit  to  tbe  Romans  as  unworthy  of  the 
name,  they  treated  them  as  common  en-emies.  This  ne- 
cessarily produced  increased  disorder,  insecurity,  and  ra- 
pine. It  must  not,  however,  be  supposed  that  this  detesta- 
tion of  paying  tribute  to  the  Romans  was  confined  to  tho 
"  zealots  ;"  for  even  the  more  quietly  disposed  submitted  to 
the  Roman  yoke  with  the  greatest  reluctance.  Hence 
those  Jews  who  assisted  in  the  collection  of  the  tribute, 
and  were  called  "  publicans,"  were  regarded  as  betrayers 
of  their  country's  liberties,  and  were  universally  detested. 
This  feeling  naturally  threw  the  oflSce  of  collector  into  the 
hands  of  men  whose  conduct, generally,  justified  the  dislike 
with  which  they  were  regarded. 

It  must,  however,  be  confessed,  that  it  was  the  lofty 
notions  which  the  Jews  entertained  of  their  national  privi- 
leges as  the  peculiar  people  of  God,  rather  than  any 
enlarged  and  enlightenecJ  views  of  public  liberty,  that 
fostered  those  feelings  of  hatred  to  the  Roman  government, 
which  they  now  evinced  with  so  little  reserve.  The  Ro- 
mans, it  is  true,  were  idolators,  and  were,  therefore,  looked 
upon  by  the  Jews  with  disgust,  as  polluted  and  abomina- 
ble men,  with  whom  they  could  not  sit  at  the  same  table, 
nor  mingle  in  any  social  intercourse.  This  marked  and 
avowed  abhorrence  of  the  Jews  to  the  persons  of  the  Ro- 
mans, was  little  calculated  to  produce,  in  that  overbearing 
people,  any  kindness  of  feeling  towards  them  as  their 
tributaries ;  and,  perhaps,  had  it  not  been  for  their  national 
peculiarities  and  prejudices,  the  Jews  would  have  had  no 
good  reason  to  complain  of  the  treatment  they  received. 
They  were  allowed  the  free  exercise  of  their  own  religious 
rites;  they  worshipped  in  their  Temple  and  synagogues, 
without    restraint;    they    followed    their    own    customs, 


DYNASTY     OF     HEROD.  423 

and  were  still,  in  a  great  ineasure,  governed  by  their  own 
laws. 

While  these  important  changes  were  taking  place  in 
Judaia,  Herod  Antipas  and  Philip  continued  to  govern  their 
respective  territories  without  the  direct  intervention  of  the 
Eomans.  Herod  sedulously  cultivated  the  friendship  of 
the  emperor  Tiberius,  who  succeeded  Augustus,  in  14 
A.  D.,  and  gave  his  name  to  the  city  which  he  built  on  the 
western  border  of  lake  Gennessareth.  The  lake  itself,  from 
this  circumstance,  soon  after  acquired  the  same  name. 

In  Judaea,  a  number  of  procurators  rapidly  followed  each 
other,  all  of  whom,  almost  without  exception,  were  men 
of  the  basest  character.  None  of  them,  however,  require 
any  particular  notice,  until  25  A.  D.,  when  Pontius  Pilate 
was  appointed  by  the  emperor  to  that  important  office. 
He  was  an  im})ious,  selfish,  sanguinary,  and  obstinate  ty- 
rant; and  without  disguise,  sold  justice,  plundered  the 
people,  and  slew  the  innocent.  Although  the  abhorrence 
in  which  idolatrous  images  were  held  by  the  Jews  was  per- 
fectly well  known  to  him,  still  he  persisted  in  bringing  into 
Jerusalem  the  images  which  were  on  the  military  ensigns  ; 
and,  by  this  and  other  acts  of  insult  and  oppression,  he 
caused  frequent  tumults  among  those  even  of  the  Jewish 
people  who  were  the  most  inclined  to  submit  to  the  Koman 
government.     But  the  chief  circumstance  which  rendered 

o 

the  administration  of  Pilate  memorable,  is  the  public  ap- 
pearance, ministry,  and  death  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour, 
Jesus  Christ. 

The  wonderful  circumstances  attending  the  birth  of 
Christ,  have  already  been  noticed.  Of  his  life,  from  that 
period  till  the  thirtieth  year  of  his  age,  when  he  commenced 
his  public  ministry,  little  farther  is  known  than  that  he  lived 
with  his  reputed  parents  at  Nazareth,  in  Galilee,  to  Avhich 
town  they  had  returned  as  soon  as  the  death  of  Herod 


424  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

rendered  it  safe  for  them  to  leave  Egypt;  and  his  memor- 
able visit  to  Jerusalem,  when  he  was  twelve  years  of  age. 
His  actual  appearance  as  the  expected  Messiah,  was  har- 
bingered  by  John  the  Baptist,  who  had  lived  in  the  soli- 
tudes of  the  wilderness,  clad  in  camel's  hair,  and  subsisting 
on  locusts  and  wild  honey.  This  remarkable  personage 
now  came  thence  to  the  river  Jordan,  and  there,  by  preach- 
ing repentance  and  remission  of  sin,  with  the  baptism  of 
multitudes  of  those  who  flocked  to  hear  him,  attracted 
the  greatest  attention.  In  the  midst  of  the  interest  thus 
excited,  and  while  many  began  to  regard  John  himself  as 
the  expected  Messiah,  he  publicly  announced  that  he  was 
merely  the  precursor  of  One,  "  the  Uitchet  of  whose  shoes 
he  was  not  worthy  to  stoop  down  and  unloose." 

A  general  expectation  was  at  this  time  prevalent  among  the 
Jewish  people,  that  the  time  for  the  appearance  of  the  long- 
desired  Messiah,  the  Deliverer  of  their  nation,  was  at  hand. 
This  expectation  was  founded  on  a  calculation  of  the  time 
of  his  appearance,  as  mentioned  by  the  prophet  Daniel ;  but 
the  Jews  were  utterly  mistaken  in  their  conception  of  Mes- 
siah's real  character  and  office.  They  supposed  that  he 
was  to  appear  as  a  great  and  glorious  monarch,  claiming 
his  place  upon  the  throne  of  David,  and  at  once  scattering 
his  enemies  before  him,  relieving  them  from  the  oppression 
of  their  oppressors,  and  placing  them  at  the  head  of  the 
nations  of  the  earth.  This  expectation  was  one  of  the 
chief  circumstances  that  made  the  nation  at  this  time  so 
impatient  of  the  Roman  yoke. 

With  such  expectations  the  great  body  of  the  Jews,  and 
especially  the  proud  and  self-confident  Pharisees,  were 
little  prepared  to  recognize  the  Messiah  in  that  meek  and 
lowly  personage  whom  the  Baptist  soon  after  pointed  out 
as  "  the  Lamb  of  God  that  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the 
world."     The  thick  mist  that  had  settled  upon  their  eyes, 


DYNASTY     OF     UEROD.  425 

and  had  overshadowed  all  their  senses,  rendered  them 
incapable  of  perceiving  or  understanding  that  Messiah's 
mission  was  indescribably  more  glorious  than  that  which 
their  carnal  and  worldly  minds  had  assigned  him — that  he 
came  to  ransom  mankind  from  their  lost  condition  —  to 
bring  into  the  world  a  hope  of  immortality — to  furnish 
mankind  with  higher  and  purer  motives,  feelings,  and  prin- 
ciples of  action,  than  had  yet  been  known  on  earth,  or 
dreamed  of  by  the  wisest  philosophers.  They,  indeed, 
witnessed,  with  wonder,  his  acts  of  raising  the  dead,  of 
healing,  with  a  word,  all  manner  of  diseases,  of  giving 
sight  to  the  blind,  and  hearing  to  the  deaf,  and  of  feeding 
thousands  with  the  bread  of  few ;  and  even  confessed  that 
no  man  ever  spake  as  he  spoke,  or  did  such  miraculous 
things  as  he  did ;  yet  they  refused  to  receive  him  as  "  the 
Christ  of  God." 

The  opposition  of  the  nation  to  Christ  as  the  Mes- 
siah, was  greatly  increased  by  the  extraordinary  claim 
which  he,  as  the  Son,  advanced,  of  an  entire  equality  with 
God  the  Father,  and  by  the  declaration  which  he  repeatedly 
uttered  of  the  approaching  termination  of  the  Mosaical 
dispensation.  The  first  they  regarded  as  blasphemous 
arrogance ;  and  the  last  was  so  abhorrent  to  their  feelings, 
and  so  opposed  to  those  rooted  opinions  by  which  the 
national  pride  was  flattered,  that  they  could  not,  for  a  mo- 
ment, endure  the  idea.  His  unsparing  reproofs,  too,  of  the 
reigning  sins,  vices,  and  crimes  contributed  not  only  to  his 
rejection,  but  even  rendered  him  an  object  of  hatred  to  the 
teachers  and  rulers  of  the  people.  They,  therefore,  re- 
solved to  effect  his  death ;  but  the  purity  of  his  life  baf- 
iled  all  their  schemes,  until  it  occurred  to  them  to  charge 
him  with  the  political  crime  of  sedition.  This  charge,  as 
they  had  not  the  power  of  life  and  death  in  their  own 
hands,  they  preferred  against  him  before  Pilate,  the  Koman 


426  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

governor;  and  though  that  ^vickeJ  tyrant  well  knew  that 
he  was  entirely  innocent,  yet,  being  anxious  to  gratify  the 
Jewish  people,  and  fearful  of  the  impression  which  the 
iealous  and  suspicions  Tiberius  might  receive  from  their 
accounts  of  the  transaction,  lie,  with  apparent  reluctance, 
yielded  to  their  wishes,  and  condemned  him  to  death.  In 
doing  so,  however,  he  vainly  sought  to  clear  his  own  hands 
from  the  stain  of  innocent  blood,  and  to  cast  it  upon  the 
heads  of  his  persecutors.  They  received  it  gladly",  and  in 
the  frenzy  of  their  madness,  shouted,  "  His  blood  be  on 
us  and  on  our  children" — and  awfully  was  that  impreca- 
tion upon  themselves  soon  after  fulfilled. 

The  execution  of  Christ  occurred  at  the  Passover,  three 
years  after  the  commencement  of  his  public  ministry,  and 
33  A.  D.  In  that  act  of  blood,  the  doom  of  the  Jewish 
nation  was  sealed.  The  rent  vail  of  the  Temple  indicated 
the  end  of  the  Mosaical  dispensation,  and  the  completion 
of  the  purposes  for  which  the  descendants  of  Abraham  had 
hitherto  been  preserved  as  a  nation.  The  light  of  Israel 
went  out  in  that  darkness  which  overspread  the  land,  when 
the  dying  Saviour  cried,  "  It  is  finished."  Though  de- 
posited in  a  tomb,  even  the  grave  itself  could  not  retain 
him.  On  the  third  day  he  rose,  and  after  showing  him- 
self on  several  occasions  to  his  followers,  and  eating  with 
them,  he,  on  the  fortieth  day,  ascended,  visibly,  up  into 
Heaven.  At  the  feast  of  Pentecost,  which  soon  after  oc- 
curred, he  sent  down  upon  his  chosen  disciples  the  Holy 
Spirit  to  enlighten  them,  and  to  qualify  them  for  preaching 
his  doctrines  to  all  the  world. 


DYNASTY     OF     HEROD.  427 


SECTION     III. 

The  Recall  of  Pilate— His  banishment  and  denth — Kiui?  Hekod 
Agrippa — His  efforts  to  conciliate  the  Jews — His  death — JudjBfi 
again  a  Koman  Province— Felix — Festus — Albinus — Flouus — 
The  Outbreak  at  Cjesarea — Its  Cause  and  Consequences— Defeat  of 
Cestius  Gallius — Vespasian  at  the  head  of  the  Syrian  Army— Suc- 
ceeded by  his  eon,  Titus— Fall  and  destruction  of  Jerusalem— Dis 
persiou  of  the  Jewish  Nation. 

From  this  eventful  period  in  the  history  of  the  Jewish 
people,  everything  concerning  them  is  attended  with  gloom 
and  disaster.  Christ  himself,  a  short  time  before  his  cru- 
cifixion, had  predicted  that  the  existing  generation  should 
not  pass  away,  before  the  city  and  Temple  would  be  de- 
stroyed, and  the  people  suffer  the  most  fearful  calamities. 
Pilate  retained  his  government  until  37  A.  D.,  and  con- 
tinued his  oppressions  and  exactions  with  the  most  rigor- 
ous severity.  Among  other  things,  he  attempted  to  drain 
the  treasury  of  the  Temple,  by  making  it  chargeable  with 
the  expenses  of  carrying  an  aqueduct  into  Jerusalem.  His 
oppressions  at  length  became  so  intolerable,  that  they  could 
no  longer  be  borne;  and  the  Samaritans,  upon  the  grossest 
outrage  being  committed  upon  them,  joined  with  the  Jews, 
and  laid  such  complaints  before  Vitellius,  the  governor  of 
Syria,  that  he  ordered  Pilate  home  to  Kome,  to  give  an 
account  of  his  conduct  to  the  emperor.  Tilierius  died  be- 
fore his  arrival,  and  Caligula,  his  successor,  banished  him 
to  Vienne,  in  Gaul,  where  he  soon  after  perished  by  his 
own  hands.  During  the  short  interim  that  followed  tho 
removal  of  Pilate,  the  office  of  procurator  was  filled  by 
Marcellus,  under  appointment  from  ViteUius  ;  but  Caligula 
soon  after  sent  out  MaruUus  to  fill  the  place. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  two  sons  of  the  Asamonean 
Mariamne,  Alexander  and  Aristobulus,  were  put  to  death 
by  their  unnatural  father,  Herod  the  Great.     Aristobulus 


428  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

left  a  son,  named  Herod  Agrippa,  who  was  sent  to  Rome, 
and  brought  up  in  the  imperial  family.  As  he  advanced 
to  manhood,  he  attached  himself  to  Caligula,  the  heir  ap- 
parent to  the  throne  of  the  empire ;  and  having,  in  his 
familiar  intercourse  with  that  young  prince,  unguardedly 
expressed  a  wish  that  his  friend  might  soon  become  em- 
peror, the  old  tyrant  Tiberius  threw  him  into  prison.and 
loaded  him  with  chains.  When  Caligula,  soon  after,  be- 
came emperor,  one  of  his  first  acts  was  to  release  Herod 
Agrippa  from  prison,  and  bestow  upon  him  a  chain  of 
gold,  equal  in  weight  to  the  one  that  he  had  been  com- 
pelled to  wear  for  his  sake.  He  then  bestowed  upon  him 
the  tetrarchy  of  his  late  uncle  Philip,  together  with  that 
of  Abilene,  with  the  title  of  king.  This  unexpected  ad- 
vancement of  his  nephew  was  highly  offensive  to  Herod 
Antipas ;  and  he,  therefore,  repaired  to  Rome,  to  endeavor 
to  obtain  the  royal  title  for  himself.  A  report  of  his  crimes 
had,  however,  preceded  him  thither ;  and  instead  of  ob- 
taining the  crown,  he  was  sent  to  join  Pilate,  at  Vienna, 
and  his  territory  was  given  to  the  fortunate  Agrippa. 
Judaea  and  Samaria  were  added,  a  few  years  after,  to  his 
dominions,  by  the  emperor  Claudius,  the  successor  of 
Caligula ;  and  thus  the  kingdom  of  Herod  the  Great  was 
again  united  under  his  grandson. 

Herod  Agrippa,  from  the  very  beginning  of  his  reign, 
manifested  great  anxiety  to  conciliate  the  feelings  and 
affections  of  the  Jewish  people ;  and  he,  therefore,  sought 
every  opportunity  to  render  his  government  acceptable  to 
them.  He  used  his  influence  at  Rome  to  prevent  Caligula, 
when  that  madman  resolved  to  be  worshipped  throughout 
his  empire  as  a  god,  from  causing  his  image  to  be  placed 
in  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem  ;  and  his  persecution  of  the 
Christians  seems  to  have  arisen  less  from  an  intolerant 
disposition,   than  from  a  wish  to  please  the  Jews.     His 


DYNASTY     OF     HEROD.  429 

increasing  power  and  greatness,  however,  at  length  so 
inflated  his  mind,  that  he  received,  with  complaisance,  the 
salutations  of  the  people,  who,  on  a  public  occasion,  hailed 
him,  in  the  theatre  at  Caesarea,  as  a  god.  To  check  his 
vanity,  and  to  teach  him  his  weakness  and  mortality,  he 
was  immediately  smitten  by  the  Almighty  with  a  loath- 
some disease,  of  which  he  soon  after  died.  This  event 
occurred  in  the  fifty -fourth  year  of  Agrippa's  age,  and  45 
A.  D. 

On  the  death  of  Herod  Agrippa,  Judaea  once  more  be- 
came a  Roman  province,  and  under  the  successive  govern- 
ments of  Cuspius  Fadus,  Tiberius  Alexander,  and  Ventidius 
Cumanus — in  all  not  more  than  eight  years — various  acts 
of  tumult,  popular  frenzy,  delusions  and  crime,  clearly 
indicated  the  commencement  of  that  troubled  condition  of 
society,  which  ended,  in  less  than  twenty  years,  in  the  de- 
struction of  Jerusalem,  and  the  ruin  of  the  nation.  In  53 
A.  D.,  the  emperor  Claudius  appointed  his  freedman,  Felix, 
procurator  of  Judaea ;  and  from  the  very  commencement  of 
his  administration,  there  was  nothing  mean,  cruel,  unjust, 
or  extortionate,  to  which  he  did  not  resort.  Such  conduct 
greatly  contributed  to  extend  and  strengthen  that  impa- 
tience of  Roman  authority  which  had  long  existed,  and 
which  soon  after  rose  to  madness.  Enthusiasts  were  now 
constantly  starting  up,  and  declaring  themselves  divinely 
commissioned  to  deliver  the  nation  from  Roman  bondage. 
The  general  expectation  at  this  time  of  such  a  deliverer, 
secured  followers  for  the  wildest  of  those  impostors ;  and 
so  numerous  were  they,  that  scarcely  a  day  passed  in 
which  several  of  them  were  not  put  to  death. 

The  government  of  Felix  at  length  became  so  intolerable 
to  the  Jews,  that  they  sent  a  deputation  to  complain  of  his 
conduct  to  the  emperor  Nero,  who  had  now  succeeded 
Claudius  upon  the  imperial  throne ;  and  in  60  A.  D.  Felix 


430  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

was  recalled,  and  the  procuratorship  conferred  upon  Porcius 
Festus.  Festus  immediately  proceeded  to  act  with  great 
boldness  against  the  numerous  bands  of  robbers  who  now 
infested  every  part  of  the  country  ;  and  such  was  his  deci- 
sion and  severity  towards  them,  that  his  conduct  spread 
terror  to  the  very  heart  of  Jerusalem.  The  bands  of  rob- 
bers being,  through  his  energy,  either  subdued  or  scattered, 
he  next  turned  his  attention  to  the  discords  which  raged 
between  the  superior  and  inferior  order  of  priests.  These 
discords  arose  out  of  the  frequent  changes  of  the  persons 
who  held  the  office  of  high-priest,  and  the  extravagant 
claims  of  those  who  had  once  enjoyed  that  dig-nity.  The 
latter,  in  the  course  of  time,  formed  a  considerable  body ; 
and  as  they  all  claimed  the  pontifical  portion  out  of  the 
tithes,  there  was  not  sufficient  left  for  the  subsistence  of 
the  inferior  priesthood.  The  rigor  with  which  the  claim 
was  enforced,  and  the  vehemence  with  which  it  was  re- 
sisted, led  to  the  most  scandalous  outrages.  These  vile 
miscreants,  as  Josephus  calls  them,  engaged  partisans, 
and  employed  assassins  against  each  other ;  and  not  only 
was  the  country  kept  in  a  continual  ferment  by  them,  but 
the  very  sanctuary  itself  was  often  desecrated  by  their 
broils,  and  stained  with  their  blood.  Festus,  by  his  reso- 
lute conduct  and  wholesome  severities,  succeeded  in  sub- 
duing, in  some  degree,  this  disgraceful  strife  ;  but  his  whole 
administration  was  greatly  troubled  by  the  enthusiasts  and 
false  prophets,  who,  from  time  to  time,  appeared,  and,  by 
their  promised  deliverance,  excited  the  multitude  to  com- 
mit the  most  violent  outrages. 

In  the  midst  of  these  praiseworthy  labors  Festus  died, 
having  held  the  government  less  than  three  years.  He  was 
succeeded  by  Albinus,  the  only  object  of  whose  adminis- 
tration seems  to  have  been  to  enrich  himself.  His  severi- 
ties were  reserved  for  such  worthless  wretches  as  could 


DYNASTY     OF     HEROD.  431 

produce  no  money  ;  but  the  most  atrocious  criminals,  "vvhoso 
\vealth  would  enable  them  to  bribe  suflBciently  high,  were 
permitted  to  commit  their  outrages  with  impunity.  As 
crime  yielded  him  a  rich  harvest  in  bribes  and  ransoms,  he 
gave  it  every  encouragement,  and  was  regarded  as  the  real 
head  of  all  the  robbers  in  the  country.  Bad  as  Albinus 
was,  however,  he  was  greatly  surpassed,  both  in  oppression 
and  cruelty,  by  Gessius  Florus,  his  successor.  Florus  was 
the  last,  and  very  worst  of  the  Koman  governors  of  Judaea. 
Indeed,  the  enormities  of  his  predecessors,  when  compared 
with  those  which  he  committed,  were  as  nothing.  Other 
procurators  had  been  tyrannical,  cruel,  and  avaricious ;  but 
his  tyranny  knew  no  bounds,  his  cruelty  was  a  habit,  and 
his  avarice  was  utterly  insatiable.  He  protected  all  robbers 
who  would  divide  the  spoil  with  him,  and  thus  practically 
gave  a  license  to  all  kinds  of  violence  and  spoliation.  To 
conceal  his  own  crimes,  he  now  urged  on  the  tendencies  of 
the  people  to  intestine  commotion  and  revolt ;  and  thus 
hastened  the  result  which  their  own  madness  had  already 
rendered  inevitable. 

Under  the  mal-administration  of  Florus,  the  condition 
of  the  country  soon  became  so  deplorable,  that  a  great 
number  of  the  well-disposed  inhabitants  sought,  in  foreign 
countries,  that  protection  which  they  could  not  find  in  their 
own.  The  whole  land  was  distracted  by  tumults :  robbery 
was  licensed ;  justice  was  sold  by  the  procurator  without 
disguise,  and  even  the  sacred  oflSce  of  the  high-priesthood" 
was  offered  to  the  highest  bidder.  The  office  being  thus 
obtained  by  the  most  profligate  wretches,  they  used  it  for 
their  own  base  purposes,  and  maintained  themselves  in  it 
by  the  darkest  villainies.  Divided  into  different  sects  and 
parties,  of  which  there  were  at  this  time  a  great  number, 
they,  with  the  leading  men  of  the  nation  severally  attached 
to  them,  treated  each  other  with  the  bitterest  sectarian  ani- 


432  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

mosity.  Seconded  by  such  examples  in  their  superiors,  th«» 
ordinary  priests  and  the  scribes  became,  in  the  highest  de- 
gree, dissolute  and  unprincipled :  the  mass  of  the  people 
abandoned  themselves  to  every  species  of  vice  and  crime, 
and  sedition,  extortion,  and  robberies,  were  matters  of 
every-day  occurrence. 

While  all  Judaea  was  in  this  deplorable  condition,  events 
transpired  at  Cassarea  which  resulted  in  an  actua'l  out- 
break. That  city  was  now  the  seat  of  the  Roman  governor, 
and  contained  a  mixed  population  of  Syrians  and  Jews, 
between  whom  a  serious  dispute  had  arisen,  as  to  which  of 
them  the  place  really  belonged.  The  dispute,  at  length, 
assumed  so  serious  an  aspect,  as  to  be  referred  to  the  em- 
peror ;  and  as  the  decision  was  in  favor  of  the  Syrians, 
their  exultation  was  boundless ;  and  this  greatly  exasperated 
not  only  the  Jews  of  Csesarea,  but  the  whole  nation.  This 
triumph  of  the  Syrians,  together  with  insults  of  the  Jewish 
religion,  fanned  into  a  flame  the  smouldering  embers  of  the 
fire  of  revolt.  Under  the  impulse  of  this  irritation,  a  party 
of  hot-headed  young  men  surprised  a  Eoman  garrison  at 
Masada,  near  the  Dead  Sea,  and  put  all  the  soldiers  to  the 
Bword.  The  conduct  of  these  young  men  was  openly 
sanctioned  at  Jerusalem  ;  and  the  priests  accordingly  ceased 
to  offer  up  the  usual  sacrifices  for  the  prosperity  of  the 
Roman  empire.  In  the  midst  of  their  frenzy,  the  popular 
party  in  the  city  rose  upon  the  Roman  garrison,  put  them 
all  to  the  sword,  and  then  burned  the  palace  and  the  pub- 
lic offices.  A  general  insurrection  was  the  consequence, 
and  war,  massacre,  and  devastation  immediately  followed, 
throughout  the  land. 

Cestius  Gallus,  the  president  of  Syria,  on  receiving  in- 
telligence of  this  revolt,  marched  a  powerful  army  into 
Judrea,  and  advanced  towards  Jerusalem;  but  before  he 
reached  the  city,  he  was  met  by  the  insurgents,  and  com- 


DYNASTY     OF     HEKOD.  433 

pletely  defeated.  The  military  engines  which,  as  one  of 
the  fruits  of  this  victory,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  victors, 
were  effectually  used  by  them  in  the  subsequent  defense  of 
the  city.  The  honor  of  Rome  was  now  engaged  to  revenge 
this  disgrace ;  and  for  this  purpose,  the  emperor  Nero  sent 
the  able  and  experienced  Vespasian,  accompanied  by  his 
son  Titus,  to  conduct  the  war.  Vespasian  commenced  his 
operations  in  the  spring  of  67  A.  D.,  with  an  army  of  sixty 
thousand  men ;  but  instead  of  marching  directly  to  Jeru 
salem,  he  first  reduced  Galilee,  and  recovered  the  fortresses 
that  had  been  taken  by  the  insurgents.  This  task  he  found 
not  so  easy  as  he  had  anticipated ;  for  at  every  step,  his 
course  was  resisted  with  the  most  desperate  valor.  At 
Jotapata,  he  was  opposed  by  the  historian  Josephus,  to 
whom  the  provisional  Jewish  government  had  confided  the 
defense  of  Galilee.  The  fortress  at  length  fell,  and  Jose- 
phus was  taken  prisoner  ;  but  in  consequence  of  his  exalted 
character,  he  was  treated  with  great  consideration  and 
respect. 

The  treatment  of  Josephus  was,  however,  an  exception 
to  the  general  conduct  of  the  Romans  throughout  the 
campaign ;  for  in  every  other  instance,  they  behaved  with 
the  greatest  severity.  No  mercy  was  shown  to  age  or  sex  ; 
and  cities,  towns,  and  villages  were  cruelly  ravaged  and 
destroyed.  These  desolations,  awful  as  they  were,  were 
not  confined  to  Judrea  ;  but  in  many  distant  cities  in  which 
Jews  were  settled,  they  were  slaughtered  by  the  Roman 
soldiers  and  the  other  inhabitants  in  great  multitudes.  In 
Csesarea,  twenty  thousand  were  slain  in  one  day ;  and  in 
Scythopolis,  thirteen  thousand  in  one  night ;  in  Alexandria 
in  Egypt,  fifty  thousand ;  in  Joppa,  eight  thousand ;  and 
in  Damascus,  more  than  ten  thousand.  The  extent  of  the 
destruction  of  the  Jews  was  not,  however,  to  be  wondered 
at ;  for  nothing  but  the  blindest  infatuation  could  have  in- 
19 


434  THE     ANCIENT      HEBREWS. 

duced  them  to  rush  recklessly  into  a  war  where  the  odds 
were  so  fearfully  against  them. 

Though  Vespasian  steadily  prosecuted  the  war,  yet  he 
evinced  no  haste  to  march  against  Jerusalem ;  for  he  well 
knew  that  the  factions  which  raged  in  that  city  were  effec- 
tually destroying  each  other.  Of  these  factions,  the  two 
principal  held  possession  of  different  parts  of  the  city  ;  and 
in  the  cruel  conflicts  in  which  they  wasted  their  strength, 
thoy  destroyed  even  the  store-houses  of  corn  and  other  pro- 
visions, which  formed  their  only  resource  against  famine, 
in  the  threatened  siege.  Both  factions  agreed,  however,  in 
harassing,  plundering,  and  destroying  those  citizens  and 
nobles  who  did  not  enter  into  their  own  views  ;  and  hence 
they  were  not  prepared  to  avail  themselves  of  the  advat? 
tages  which  they  might  have  derived  from  a  respite  whicUf 
at  this  time,  occurred,  occasioned  by  a  revolution  in  imperial 
Eome  itself,  in  consequence  of  the  death  of  Nero.  Galba, 
Otho,  and  Vitellius  were  successively  invested  with  the 
purple ;  and  at  length,  Vespasian  himself,  with  the  general 
approbation  of  all  ranks,  was  declared  emperor,  by  the  army 
of  the  east. 

The  position  to  which  Vespasian  was  thus  unexpectedly 
raised,  required  that  he  should  hasten  to  Rome  ;  and  at 
his  departure  from  Judaea,  he  committed  the  conduct  of  the 
war  to  his  son  Titus.  In  the  following  year,  at  the  feast 
of  the  Passover,  when  the  city  was  thronged  with  people 
from  every  part  of  the  land,  the  Roman  army  appeared  be- 
fore its  walls.  The  anxiety  of  Titus  to  save  the  city  and 
the  Temple,  was  probably  the  motive  that  prompted  him 
to  commence  the  siege  at  this  season ;  for  it  was  natural  to 
expect  that,  where  such  multitudes  were  shut  up  in  an  ill-- 
provisioned  city,  famine  alone  would  soon  make  a  surrender 
inevitable.  Titus  used  the  most  earnest  persuasions  to  in- 
duce the  besieged  to  open  the  gates  of  the  city  to  his  army  ; 


DYNASTY     OF     HEROD.  435 

assuring  tbem,  with  the  utmost  sincerity,  that  they  might 
thus  secure  both  their  liberty  and  tlieir  safety.  He  even 
commissioned  Josephus  to  address  them,  and  to  point  out 
to  them  the  folly  of  supposing  that  they  could  successfully 
resist  the  power  of  Rome.  All  entreaties,  Avarnings,  and 
L'ounsels  were,  however,  treated  with  scorn  ;  the  besieged, 
confident  that  God  would  not  permit  his  Temple  and  city 
to  fall  before  the  heathen,  resolved  to  defend  them  to  the 
last  extremity. 

This  desperate  determination  of  the  infatuated  Jews, 
compelled  Titus,  much  against  his  own  will,  to  become  the 
unconscious  instrument  of  accomplishing  that  doom  of  the 
city  and  Temple  of  Jerusalem,  which  Christ  had,  nearly 
forty  years  before,  so  emphatically  denounced.  The  very 
folly  of  their  resistance,  at  length  so  exasperated  Titus, 
that  he  resolved  that  none  of  them  should  escaj^e  but  such 
as  surrendered  at  discretion ;  and  he,  therefore,  surrounded 
the  city  with  a  strong  wall  of  circumvallation,  strengthened 
by  towers.  This  work  the  great  strength  of  the  city  ren- 
dered necessary  ;  for  the  place  was  not  only  enclo?ed  by 
three  walls,  one  within  the  other,  but  had,  in  its  midst,  the 
Temple,  which  was,  of  itself,  an  exceedingly  strong  fortress. 
All  these  defenses  were  successively  carried  by  the  Romans, 
although  every  step  was  desperately  contested  by  the  be- 
sieged, who,  for  fifteen  weeks,  prevented  their  enemies  from 
reaching  the  Temple. 

During  the  whole  of  that  time  the  most  horrible  famine 
prevailed  throughout  Jerusalem  ;  and  at  length  it  reached 
such  a  height  that  no  table  w^as  spread  in  the  city,  or 
regular  meal  eaten:  the  people  bartered  their  wealth  for  a 
measure  of  corn,  and  often  ate  it  ungiound  and  unbaked, 
or  snatched  it,  half-baked,  from  the  coals.  Under  these 
calamitous  circumstances,  multitudes  perished  from  mere 
want,  especially  the  old  and  the  very  young ;  for,  to  the 


436  THE     ANCIENT     HEBREWS. 

latter,  the  mother's  breasts  no  longer  aflforded  nour/shment. 
There  ^vere  even  many  instances  of  dead  infants  being  eat 
en  by  their  own  parents ;  and  thus  was  fulfilled  the  prophe- 
cy of  Moses,  in  relation  to  this  a^Yful  event :  "  The  tender 
and  dedicate  woman  among  you,  which  would  not  adven- 
ture to  set  the  sole  of  her  foot  upon  the  ground,  for  deli 
cateness  and  tenderness ;  her  eye  shall  be  evil  towards  the 
husband  of  her  bosom,  and  towards  her  son,  and  towards 
her  daughter,  and  towards  her  children  which  she  shall 
bear ;  for  she  shall  eat  them  for  want  of  all  things,  secretly, 
in  the  siege  and  straitness  wherewith  thine  enemy  shall 
distress  thee  in  thy  gate." 

The  city  of  Jerusalem  itself  was  taken  by  the  Komans 
in  the  early  part  of  May,  70  A.  D. ;  but  the  Temple  did 
not  fall  into  their  hands  until  the  beginning  of  the  follow 
ing  August.  Titus  was  most  anxious  to  spare  that  splendid 
edifice,  as  it  was  one  of  the  noblest  ornaments  of  the  Eoman 
empire ;  but,  as  Josephus  observes,  the  holy  and  beautiful 
house  "was  doomed  to  destruction,  and  nothing  could  save 
it."  He  even  attributes  to  "a  divine  impulse,"  the  act 
of  the  soldier  who  seized  a  burning  brand,  cast  it  into  the 
golden  window,  and  thus  set  the  whole  fabric  in  flames. 
The  moment  Titus  perceived  this  he  hastened  to  the  spot; 
and  as  all  attempts  to  save  the  building  itself  proved  un- 
availing, he,  with  some  of  his  oflflcers,  entered  the  sanctuary, 
and  conveyed  thence  all  the  sacred  utensils  and  vessels  of 
gold.  Many  of  these  he  carried  to  Eome  to  grace  his  tri- 
umphal procession,  and  they  were  afterwards  sculptured 
upon  the  arch  which  was  constructed  to  commemorate  h5s 
victory. 

The  useless  obstinacy  evinced  by  the  Jews  in  their  des- 
perate defense  of  their  city  and  Temple,  so  exasperated  the 
Komans,  that  the  moment  they  fell  into  their  hands  they 
burned  and  destroyed  every  thing  before  them  without  re- 


'^>^. 


DYNASTY     OF     HEROD.  437 

morse,  and  massacred  the  people  without  distinction  of 
age  or  sex.  Streams  of  blood  flowed  through  every  street, 
and  the  .lanes  of  the  city  were  filled  with  bodies  weltering 
in  their  gore.  The  number  that  perished  during  the  four 
months  of  the  siege,  is  computed  at  one  million  one  hun- 
dred thousand — a  number  that  would  seem  incredible,  did 
we  not  recollect  that  at  the  time  the  siege  commenced  al- 
most the  whole  nation  was  assembled  in  the  city  to  cele- 
brate the  Passover.  An  equal  number  perished  elsewhere 
during  the  six  years  of  the  war  ;  and  ninety-seven  thousand 
were  made  prisoners  and  sold  into  slavery,  or  sent  to  toil 
in  the  mines  of  Egypt. 

In  this  calamitous  manner  Israel  ceased  to  be  a  nation, 
and  became  outcast  and  desolate ;  their  famous  city  and 
beautiful  Temple  were  utterly  destroyed;  and  the  doom 
fulfilled  which  the  people  impiously  invoked  upon  them- 
selves when,  at  the  unrighteous  condemnation  of  our  Sa- 
viour, they  cried  out :  "  His  blood  be  upon  us,  and  upon 
our  children."  It  is  still  a  source  of  consolation,  however, 
to  reflect,  that,  notwithstanding  their  unparalleled  suffer- 
ings, "  there  is  hope  in  the  end" — that  they  are  not  finally 
cut  oflP,  nor  have  they  fallen  beyond  recovery ;  but  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  animating  promise  of  the  Almighty, 
their  privileges  will  again  b^  restored — their  covenant  bless 
ings  renewed;  and,  in  a  far  higher  sense  than  ever  before, 
Jehovah  will  be  their  (Grod,  and  tliey  shall  be  his  people. 


VOCABULARY 


A'-A-RON  . 

Ab'-don  . 
A-bed'-ne-oo 

A'-BEL  .  .  . 
A-Bl'-AH  .  . 
A-Bl'-A-THAR 

Ab'-i-gail  . 

A-Bl'-HU  .  . 
A-Bl'-JAH  . 

A-bim'-e-lech 
A-bin'-a-dab 
Ab'-i-shag  .  . 
A-bish'-a-i  .  . 
Ab'-ner  .  .  . 
A-bi'-ram  .  . 

A'-BRA-HAM  . 

Ab'-sa-lom  . 

A'-CHAN  .  .  . 
A'-CHISH  .  .  . 

Ad'-am'.  .  .  . 
A-don-i-be'-zek 
Ad-o-ni'-jah 
A-don-i-ze'-dek 

A-DO'-RAM  .  . 
A'-GAG  .... 
A'-HAB  .... 
A-HA-Zl'-AH  . 
A'-HAZ  .... 

A-has-u-e'-rus 

A-Hl'-A-KIM  . 
A-Hl'-KAM  .  . 
A-Hl'-JAH  .  . 

A-hin'-o-am  .  , 
A-hith'-o-phel 

A-HO'-LI-AB 

Al-bi'-nus  , 
Al'-ci-mus 


PAGE 

50 
144 
336 

11 
162 
187 
192 

64 
276 
135 
159 
249 
200 
193 

79 

19 
223 

98 
194 
9 
108 
240 
102 
297 
175 
240 
289 
295 
355 
335 
341 
276 
193 
212 

65 
430 
383 


PI  OB 

Al-ex-an'-der 348 

Al-ex-an'-der  Ba'-las  .  .  386 
Al-ex-an'-der  JAN-Nis'-us  393 

Al-ex-an'-dra 408 

A-LEx'-is 418 

Al-phax'-ad 19 

Am'-a-lek 103 

Am'-a-sa 232 

Am-a-zi'-ah 314 

Am'-non 223 

A'-MON 331 

Am'-ram 50 

A'-Mos 293 

A'-NAK 105 

An'-a-nel 408 

A'-NATH 120 

An-tig'-o-nus 367 

An-ti'-o-chus 371 

An-ti'-o-chus  Si-de'-tes  .  390 

An-tip'-a-ter 394 

An'-to-ny 398 

A-pel'-les 377 

Ap-ol-lo'-ni-us 374 

Ar-che-la'-us 419 

Ar'-e-tas 395 

Ar-is-to-bu'-lus 391 

A'-SA 300 

As'-A-HEL 200 

A'-SAPH  .  .  • 361 

As'-E-NATH 35 

Ash'-er 29 

Ath-a-li'-ah 307 

Au-Gus'-Tus 413 

Az-a-ri'-ah 336 


Ba'-la-am  . 
Ba'-a-sha  . 


85 
283 


440 


VOCABULARY. 


PAGE 

Bac'-chi-des 384 

Ba-go'-ses 364 

Ba'-rak 85 

Bar-zil'-a-i 233 

Bath'-she-ba 217 

Be-zal'-e-el 64 

Bel-shaz'-zar  .......  348 

Ben-ai'-ah 243 

Ben'-ha-dad  .......  287 

Ben'-ja-min  .  ..  .* 29 

Beh-e-ni'-ce 415 

Bil'-hah 29 

Bo'-AZ 124 

C^'-SAR 397 

Cain 11 

Ca'-leb 77 

Ca-lig'u-la 427 

Cus'-pi-us  Fa'-dus  .  .  .  .429 
Ces'-ti-us  Gal'-lus  ....  432 
Chush'-an  Eish-a-tha'-im  117 

Clau'-di-us 428 

Cle-o-pa'-tra 408 

Co-do-man'-xus 348 

Cy-ax'-a-res 347 

Cy-re'-ni-us 416 

Cy'-rus 347 

Dan 29 

Dan'-i-el 336 

Da-ri'-us 348 

Da'-than 79 

Da'-vid 126 

De'-bir 102 

Deb'-o-rah  121 

Del'-i-lah 151 

De-me'-tri-us  So'-ter  .  .  .  383 

Dl'-NAH 29 

Do'-EG 187 

E'-ber 19 

Eg'-lon 118 

E'-HUD 119 

E'-LI-AD 178 

E'-LAH 284 

E'-Li 152 

El'-ka-nah   .......  153 


PAO« 

E-le'-a'-zar 378 

E-li'-a-kim  334 

E-li'-a-shib 364 

E-li-e'-zer 37 

E-li'-jah 285 

E-lim'-e-lech 123 

E-Li-SHA  . 287 

E'-lon 144 

E'-NOCH 13 

E'-PHRA-IM 35 

E-piph'-a-nes 370 

E'-sar-had'-don 327 

E'-sau 24 

Es'-ther 358 

Eu'-pa-tor 381 

Eu-er'-ge-tes 369 

Eve 10 

Ez'-RA 356 

E-ze'-ki-el 337 

Ga-bin'-i-us 399 

Gad *.  .  29 

Gal'-ba 434 

Ger'-shom  .  , 51 

Ged-a-li'-ah 341 

Gid'-e-on 128 

Glaph'-y-ra 415 

Ges'-si-us  Flo'-rus  ....  431 

Ha'-dad .  275 

Had-ad-e'-zer 210 

Ha'-gar 21 

Hag'-ga-i 354 

Ham 14 

Ha'-man 358 

Ha'-mor 29 

Han'-nah 153 

Han'-a-ni 302 

Han-a-ni'-ah 336 

Ha'-nan 214 

Ha'-ran 19 

Haz'-a-el 287 

He-li-o-do'-rus 371 

Her'-cu-les 372 

Her'-od 401 

Her'-od  A-grip'-pa  .   .  .  419 
Her'-od  An'-ti-pas  .    .419 


VOCABULARY. 


441 


Her'-od  Phil'-ip 
He-ro-di'-as 
Hil'-lel  . 
Hil'-ki-ah 

Hi'-RAM  . 
Ho'-HAM  . 

Hoph'-ni 
Ho-se'-a  . 

HO-SHE-A 

Hul'-dah 
HUR  .  .  . 
Hush'-ai 
Hyr-ca'-nus 
Hts-tas'-pes 

Ib'-zan  .  . 

I'-SAAC   . 
I-SAl'-AH  . 

Ish'-bosheth 
Ish'-ma-el  . 

Is'-SA-CHAR 

Ith'-a-mar  . 
It'-ta-i  .  .  . 

Ja'-bin  .  . 
Ja'-cob  .  . 
Jad-du'-a  . 
Ja'-el  .  .  . 
Ja-ha'-zi-el 
Ja'-ir  .  .  . 
Ja'-pheth  . 
Ja-phi'-ah  . 
Ja'-red  .  . 
Ja'-son  .  .  . 
Jed-e-di'-ah 
Je-ho'-a-haz 
Je-ho'-ash 
Je-hoi'-a-chim 
Je-hoi'-a-kin 
Je-hosh'-a-phat 
Je-hosh'-e-ba 
Je-ho'-ram  . 
Je'-hu  .... 
Jer-e-mi'-ah  . 
Jeph'-thah  • 
Jer-o-bo'-am  . 
Jesh'-u-a  .  . 
19* 


PAGE 

.  419 
.  419 
.  145 
.  332 
.  206  i 
.  102  j 
.  155 
.  293 
.  295 
.  332 
.  60 
.  212 
.  388 
.  354 

.  144 
.  21 
.  320 
.  202 
.  21 
.  29 
.  70 
.  326 

.  104 
.  24 
.  365 
.  122 
.  306 
.  137 
.  14 
.  102 
.  13 
.  372 
.  221 
.  292 
.  309 
.  335 
.  337 
.  212 
.  311 
.  307 
.  287 
.  335 
.  140 
.  276 
.  352 


FA  OB 

Jes'-se 126 

JE'-SUS  CHRIST ....  417 
Je'-thro 51 


Jez'-e-bel 
Jo'-ab  .  . 
Jo'-a-chin 
Jo'-el  .  . 


285 

200 

364 

162 

Jo'-ash 132 

Joch'-e-bed 50 

Jo-ha'-nan 341 

John  378 

John  the  Baptist  ....  423 

JO'-NAH 293 

Jon'-a-than 169 

Jo'-SEPH 29 

Josh'-u-a 60 

Jo-se'-phus 263 

Jo-si'-ah 331 

Jo'-tham 318 

joz'-e-dech 352 

Ju'-DAH 29 

Ju'-DAs 378 

Ju'-PI-TER 373 

Ke-tu'-rah 24 

Kish 165 

KO'-RAH 79 

La'-ban 29 

La'-bo-ro-so-ae'-chad  .  .  348 

La'-mech 13 

La-om'-e-don 367 


Le'-ah 

Le'-vi  ...... 

Lon-gim'-a-nus 

Lot 

Lts'-i-as  .  .  .  . 


28 
29 

356 
20 

379 


Ma'-a-chah 299 

MA-A-SEf-AH 321 

Ma'-chon 208 

Ma-hal'-a-leel 13 

Mal'-a-chi 336 

Mal'-chus 402 

Ma-nas'-seh 329 

Man-as-se'-as 365 

Ma-no'-ah 145 


442 


VOCABULARY. 


PAGE 

Ma'-ra 124 

Ma-ri-am'-ne 402 

Mar-cel'-lus 427 

Ma-rul'-lus 427 

Ma'-tri 166 

Mat-tan-i'-ah 337 

Mat-ta-thi'-as 377 

Mel-chis'-e-dek 21 

Mel-chi-shu'-a 197 

Men'-a-hem 294 

Men-e-la'-us 373 

Me-phib'-o-sheth 213 

Me-ro'-dach  Bal'-a-dan  .  328 

Me'-shach 336 

Mes-si'-ah 423 

Me-thu'-se-lah 13 

Mi'-CAH 322 

Mi'-CAH in 

Mi'CHA-EL 336 

Mi'-CHAL 182 

Mir'-i-am 50 

Mith-ri-da'-tes 395 

Mne'-mon 364 

Mor'-de-cai 358 

Mo'-SES  50 

Na'-bal 191 

Na'-hash 167 

Ne'-bat 288 

Na-bo-na-di'-us 351 

Na'-both   288 

Na'-dab 283 

Na'-hor 19 

Na'-o-mi 123 

NAPn'-THA-LI 29 

Na'-than 209 

Neb-u-chad-nez'-zar  .  .  .  335 

Neb-u  zar'-a-dan 339 

Ne-he-mi'-ah 361 

Ner-i-glis'-sar 347 

Ne'-ro 429 

Ni-ca'-tor 384 

No'-AH 13 

Ob-a-di'-ah 285 

O'-bed 123 

O-bed-e'-dom 208 


rAOB 

Ob'-o-das 416 

O'-CHUS 365 

Oota'-vi-us 403 

O'-DED 321 

Og 85 

O-lym'-pi-as 375 

Om'-ri 240 

O-Nl'-AS 371 

O'-reb 134 

Or'-phah 123 

Oth'-ni-el 117 

O'-THO 434 

rE-KAH 295 

Pek-a-hi'-ah  ........  295 

Pe'-leg 19 

Pe-nin'-nah 153 

Pha'-ra-oh 33 

Pha  -ra-oh  Ne'-cho  ...  334 

Phal'-ti 193 

Phal'-ti-el 202 

Pha'-sa-el 401 

Phil'-ip 382 

Phin'-e-as 155 

Pi'-RAM ;  .  .  102 

Pol'-li-o 413 

Pom'-pey 395 

Pon'-ti-us  Pi'-late  .  .  .  .423 

Por'-ci-us  Fes'tus  ....  430 

Pot'-i-phar 32 

Ptol'-e-my  La'-gus  ....  367 
Ptol'-e-my  Phil-a-del'- 

PHus 368 

Ptol'-e-my  Phi-lom'-a-tor  383 

Ptol'-e-my  Phi-lop'-a-tor  369 

PuL 294 

Ra'-chel 28 

Rab-sha'-keh  . 326 

Ra'-hab 94 

Re-bek'-ah 23 

Re'-chab 336 

Reu 19 

Reu'-ben 29 

Re'-zin 320 

Ruth 123 

Riz'-PAH 236 


VOCABULARY 


443 


PAGE 

Sab'-a-co 295 

Sa-lo'-me 416 

Sam'-son 146 

Sam'-u-el 154 

San-bal'-lat 336 

Sa'-rah 20 

Sar-dan-a-pa'-lus  ....  294 

Saul 165 

Sa'-lah 19 

Se-leu'-cus 368 

Sen-na-che'-eib 325 

Se-ra-i'-ah 312 

Se'-rug 19 

Seth 12 

Se-ve'-rus 395 

Sha'-drach 336 

Shal'-lum 294 

Shal-ma-ne'-ser 295 

Sham'-gar 120 

She'-bah 233 

She'-chem 29 

Shel'-o-mith 70 

Shem 14 

Shim'-e-i 228 

Shi'-shak -298 

Sho'-bach 217 

Sim'-e-on 29 

Si'-MON 369 

SIS'-E-RA 122 

So-he'-mus 409 

Sol'-o-mon 221 

So'-si-us 404 

Ta'-mar 223 

Te'-rah 19 

Tat'-na-i 354 


PAGB 

Ti-be'-ri-as 376 

Ti-be'-ri-us  Al-ex-an'-der  429 

Tig'-lath  Pi-le'-ser  ...  320 

Ti-gra'-nes 395 

Tir'-ha-kah 326 

Ti'-Tus 434 

To'-LA 137 

Try'-phon 387 

U-Rl'-AH 217 

Uz'-ZAH 208 

Uzzi'-ah 316 

Yash'-ti 358 

Yex-tid'-i-us  Ou-ma'-nus  429 

Ves-pa'-sian 383 

Yi-tel'-li-us 427 

Xerx'-es 355 

Za'-bad 314 

Zach-a-ri'-ah 312 

Za'-dok 212 

Zal-mUx\'-nah 133 

Ze'-bah 133 

Zeb-a-di'-ah 305 

Zeb'-u-lun 29 

Zech-a-ri'-ah 293 

Zed-e-ki'-ah 338 

Ze'-eb 134 

Ze'-rah 301 

Ze-rub'-ba-bel 352 

Zi'-BA 213 

ZicH-Ri 320 

Zil'-pah 29 

Zim'-ri ...  240 

ZiP-PO'-RAH 51 


RND< 


THE  ANCIENT   HEBREWS. 

BY  ABRAHAM  MILLS,  A.M. 


EXTRACT  FROM  ROBERTS'  HOLY  LAND. 
"  The  history  of  the  Jews  is  the  most  characteristic,  the  most  important,  and  the 
most  sublime  in  the  world.  For  to  this  people  a;one  were  given  the  primitive 
knowled'^e  of  the  Almi;;hty,  the  trust  of  preserving  it  unstained  while  the  earth  waa 
bowed  down  iu  idolatry,  and  finally  the  magnificent  privilege  of  dispensing  it  in  the 
appointed  time  through  all  the  families  of  mankind." 

RECOMMENDATIONS. 

Sunday-school  teachers  and  students  of  the  Scripture  generally  will  find  a  volume, 
entitled  The  Ancient  Hebrews,  by  A.  Mills,  A.M.,  exceedingly  useful.  It  containa 
a  clear  and  well-digested  statement  of  the  history  of  that  ancient  people,  as  connected 
•with  Scripture  instruction.  A  copy  of  the  work  should  be  found  in  every  Sunday? 
school  library.  _  ,   ^ 

John  Hall,  D.D.,    Vv\  Oeuiiston,  D.D.,    Howard  Ceosbi',  D.D., 
Wheelock  H.  Parmlx-,  D.D.,  Thos.  Akmitage,  D.D. 

J.  B.  Hawthosnu,  D.D.,  Thos.  D.  A:>fDEnsoN,  D  J)., 

Edward  Lathrop,  D.D.  C.  A.  Chaiibers,  D.D. 

From  Mrs.  J.  T.  Benedict,  7  East  Forty- Second  Street,  New  York,  187 h. 
"  I  am  glad  to  have  had  opportunity  to  introduce  into  several  of  my  classes,  as  a 
text-book,  Mill>'  Ancient  Hebrews,  which  so  concisely  yet  clearly  makes  known 
the  promiuent  dates,  events,  and  personages  of  the  Old  Testament  history.  I  have 
often  observed  that  pupils  generally  know  less  of  the  history  of  the  Hebrew  patri- 
archs,  judges,  kings,  and  prophets  than  they  do  of  the  legendary  stories  of  Prome- 
theus, Achilles,  and  Lycurgus.  This  is  not  strange  when  we  remember  that  there 
was  no  work  until  the  appearance  of  Mills'  that  reduced  the  Old  Testament  narra- 
tive to  a  form  convenient  for  the  school-room."    . 

From  Dr.  D.  C.  Van  Northan,  75  E.  Sixty-Jirst  Street,  New  Yoi'k. 
"Miss  Carter,  the  lady  principal,  having  looked  through  it,  is  pleased,  and  thinks 
it  may  he  used  with  advantage  to  our  pupils." 

From  the  Jewish  Messenger.  New  Yorlc. 
"It  is  guided  by  the  Biblical  narrative,  and  tells  the  history  of  the  Ancient  He- 
brews generally  in  a  simple  style,  clearly  and  concisely,  rendering  the  book  well 
adapted  for  the  school.'''' 

From  the  Advance,  Chicago. 
"The  book  contains  in  convenient  form  a  large  amount  of  information  which  it  is 
^eatly  desirable  to  have  popularized." 

From  the  Independent,  Nero  York. 
"The  book  is  written  in  a  sober  and  unaffected  style,  and  gives  a  connected  and 
correct  view  of  Jewish  history." 

From  Quarterly  Beviexo  of  the  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church. 
"The  publication  of  a  new  edition  after  so  long  a  period  is  the  hest  proof  of  its 
substantial  merits." 

The  Christian  Intelligencer,  Neio  York. 
"  We  are  glad  to  see  the  new  edition." 

N.  Y.  Illustrated  Christian  Weekly. 
"  Most  of  the  books  on  this  subject  are  open  to  a -erious  objection— they  are  so 
ponderous  that  only  scholars  can  undertake  to  read  them." 

Scribner^s  Monthly. 
"It  is  a  convenient  one." 


Published  by 

A.     S.     BARNES     &     COMPANY, 

NEW    YORK    and    CHICAGO. 


DATE  DUE 

-.*«-**««!««?  ^-"' 

HIGHSMITH  #- 

45230 

Prinltd 
In  USA 

BS1197.M65 

The  ancient  Hebrews:  with  an 

Princeton  Theological  Semmary-Speer  Library 


1    1012  00012  0461 


